Plenary Talk

Friday, August 23, 2024

Meeting Room B

Remote Magnetic Navigation at Clinical

Scales for Micro and Nano Robots

Bradley J. Nelson 

Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract:

More than seventy years ago remote magnetic navigation (RMN) was proposed for guiding magnetically tipped catheters [1]. The approach has been in clinical use for assisting surgeons during endocardial ablation procedures for more than two decades [2]. We have recently developed a portable RMN system, more specifically an electromagnetic navigation system (eMNS), called the Navion that has been used for steering magnetically tipped catheters, guidewires, and endoscopes [3], as well as micro and nano robots [4]. Our hope is that a clinically relevant system capable of guiding magnetic micro and nano robots will help propel the field of micro and nano robotics towards clinical adoption [5].

Biography:

Brad Nelson is the Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zürich and is the Chief Scientific Advisor of Science Robotics. He has over thirty years of experience in the field and has received several awards in robotics, nanotechnology, and biomedicine. He serves on the advisory boards several academic departments and research institutes across North America, Europe, and Asia. Prof. Nelson has been the Department Head of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH twice, the Chairman of the ETH Electron Microscopy Center, and a member of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation. He also serves on boards of three Swiss companies and is a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering (SATW). Before moving to Europe, Nelson worked as an engineer at Honeywell and Motorola and served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana, Africa. He has also been a professor at the University of Minnesota and the University of Illinois at Chicago.