The nanobot, developed by Professor Moshe Shoham of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is only one millimeter in diameter and is equipped with small appendices allowing it to hold position in tubes of different diameters and against the blood flow. The nanobot receive power from an electromagnetic field created close to the patient's body, allowing it to operate for a long time.

These features will make it possible for the nanobot to venture through our veins and arteries in any direction in order to reach the right spot and conduct the relevant procedures.

The Israeli development is leading the world field. A parallel development in the University of Kyoto in Japan is a nanobot one centimeter in diameter. Since this model is significantly larger than the Israeli one, it is less appropriate for use in our blood-system and in other narrow passages in the human body.      

The Israeli nanobot may have a wide variety of uses, such as focused medicine release useful in cancer treatment. Another major advantage is that it will be possible to activate several nanobots simultaneously, attending to multiple problems at the same time.

Although it has already been designed and built, Professor Shoham reminds us that while promising, the nanobot is far from being an operational model.    

More information on the development can be found on the Technion's website.

Diagram of the Technion's wimming nanobot (Credit: Technion Institute of Technology)