Towards soft robotic devices for site-specific drug delivery

Abstract

Considerable research efforts have recently been dedicated to the establishment of various drug delivery systems (DDS) that are mechanical/physical, chemical and biological/molecular DDS. In this paper, we report on the recent advances in site-specific drug delivery (site-specific, controlled, targeted or smart drug delivery are terms used interchangeably in the literature, to mean to transport a drug or a therapeutic agent to a desired location within the body and release it as desired with negligibly small toxicity and side effect compared to classical drug administration means such as peroral, parenteral, transmucosal, topical and inhalation) based on mechanical/physical systems consisting of implantable and robotic drug delivery systems. While we specifically focus on the robotic or autonomous DDS, which can be reprogrammable and provide multiple doses of a drug at a required time and rate, we briefly cover the implanted DDS, which are well-developed relative to the robotic DDS, to highlight the design and performance requirements, and investigate issues associated with the robotic DDS. Critical research issues associated with both DDSs are presented to describe the research challenges ahead of us in order to establish soft robotic devices for clinical and biomedical applications. Towards soft robotic devices for site-specific drug delivery Abstract Considerable research efforts have recently been dedicated to the establishment of various drug delivery systems (DDS) which are mechanical / physical, chemical and biological/molecular DDS. In this paper, we report on recent advances in site-specific drug delivery 1 based on mechanical / physical systems consisting of implantable and robotic drug delivery systems. While we specifically focus on the robotic or autonomous DDS, which can be reprogrammable and provide multiple doses of a drug at a required time and rate, we briefly cover the implanted DDS, which are well-developed relative to the robotic DDS, to highlight the design and performance requirements, and investigate issues associated with the robotic DDS. Critical research issues associated with both DDSs are presented to describe the research challenges ahead of us in order to establish really soft robotic devices for clinical and biomedical applications.

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“…Such soft robots are often based on electroactive polymers,3j but also other concepts such as pressure driven soft actuators,3c,m,p,q,w,x,4 or soft robots based on shape memory alloys or polymers3l,n,q,r,x,4 have been investigated. In addition, actuation based on magnetism has been shown3a as well as actuation by soft materials based on liquid crystalline elastomers 3q,u,x,5. One of the main aims of soft robotics is to improve the performance of robots in healthcare applications, as a soft touch mimics the natural human touch.…”

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