Dental Micro-bots Compete in the 2020 STAT Madness Tournament Medium.com Archive / March 2, 2020 Share: Author: Evan Lerner Dental Micro-bots Compete in the 2020 STAT Madness Tournament The robots’ movement is directed by magnets. The researchers envision a variety of applications for the technology, from cleaning teeth to water pipes to catheters. (Video: Geelsu Hwang and Edward Steager) Last year, a team of Penn engineers, dentists, and biologists developed a microscopic robotic cleaning crew. With two types of robotic systems — one designed to work on surfaces and the other to operate inside confined spaces — the scientists showed that robots with catalytic activity could ably destroy biofilms, sticky amalgamations of bacteria enmeshed in a protective scaffolding. Such robotic biofilm-removal systems could be valuable in a wide range of potential applications, from keeping water pipes and catheters clean to reducing the risk of tooth decay, endodontic infections, and implant contamination. Now, those micro-robots are competing in STAT Magazine’s annual STAT Madness Tournament, where the best biomedical breakthroughs of the previous year are seeded in a bracket-style competition, with each matchup decided by popular vote. Voting for the first round of matchups starts today. Read More Jane Li named Eduardo D. Glandt Faculty Fellow GRASP Lab Profile: Feifei Qian
