Micro switchable sucker for fixable and mobile mechanism of medical MEMS

This paper proposes a micro switchable sucker for medical sensing and operation. We are interested in the practical application of medical MEMS devices to low inversion medical operation. It becomes indispensable to guarantee relative positioning between the medical MEMS and the objective part of the body. The micro sucker is proposed to fix medical MEMS on a surface of objective part. This paper describes the micro suckers integrated with medical MEMS. A temperature sensor and a micropump for DDS are integrated with the micro suckers as typical sensor and actuator. In-vitro experiment validates a feasibility of the proposed sucker as an assistive medical interface. Furthermore, in-vivo experiment of local DDS and local temperature sensing performed successfully. In addition, micro crawling robots combined the micro sucker and pneumatic balloon actuator are designed and developed. The mobile function is expected to allow distributive inspection and treatment in the body.