--- title: A ‘5-in-1’ seed-sized surgical robot | daily.dev description: Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore have developed a 4.4 mm seed-sized soft robot capable of performing five distinct surgical functions... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-5-in-1-seed-sized-surgical-robot-5arkmiliu twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A ‘5-in-1’ seed-sized surgical robot | daily.dev og:description: Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore have developed a 4.4 mm seed-sized soft robot capable of performing five distinct surgical functions... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-5-in-1-seed-sized-surgical-robot-5arkmiliu og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/5ArkMILiU.png og:image:alt: A ‘5-in-1’ seed-sized surgical robot og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A ‘5-in-1’ seed-sized surgical robot **[Robohub](https://daily.dev/sources/robohub)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore have developed a 4.4 mm seed-sized soft robot capable of performing five distinct surgical functions — cutting tissue, releasing drugs, gripping tissue samples, storing samples, and generating heat — all controlled wirelessly via weak magnetic fields. The robot can switch between functions in under a second by reprogramming its central magnetic module. A key innovation is engineering different regions of the robot to respond independently to the same magnetic field, overcoming a major limitation of miniature magnetic robots where the entire device reacts as one. The robot also adds a sixth degree of freedom (rolling) for finer navigation in narrow body spaces. Lab tests on chicken liver and gelatin tissue models confirmed functional performance, and biocompatibility tests showed over 99% cell viability. The team is now working toward integrating imaging and sensing systems and collaborating with surgeons for clinical workflow integration. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does the NTU Singapore miniature surgical robot switch between multiple functions? The robot switches between five functions by reprogramming a central magnetic module that can be magnetised, demagnetised, and remagnetised in different directions in under a second. Each magnetic orientation activates a different function — cutting tissue, releasing drugs, gripping samples, storing tissue, or generating heat. Different regions of the robot are engineered to respond independently to the same magnetic field, so only the relevant part changes shape. _Robotics and biomedical engineers tracking surgical micro-robot research follow developments like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Pressure-free growing robots for soft medical robotics](https://daily.dev/posts/pressure-free-growing-robots-for-soft-medical-robotics-psg8pdbjf) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Researchers develop modular nanorobot](https://daily.dev/posts/researchers-develop-modular-nanorobot-jodudiywa) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A robot the size of a grain of salt is opening a new era of microrobotics](https://daily.dev/posts/a-robot-the-size-of-a-grain-of-salt-is-opening-a-new-era-of-microrobotics-lbuhtywoy) · Codemotion · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [With a swipe of a magnet, microscopic “magno-bots” perform complex maneuvers](https://daily.dev/posts/with-a-swipe-of-a-magnet-microscopic-magno-bots-perform-complex-maneuvers-jhfub3ikd) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Shape-Memory Grippers Enhance Lab on a Chip Systems](https://daily.dev/posts/shape-memory-grippers-enhance-lab-on-a-chip-systems-kuvfubdwx) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-5-in-1-seed-sized-surgical-robot-5arkmiliu) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A ‘5-in-1’ seed-sized surgical robot","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-5-in-1-seed-sized-surgical-robot-5arkmiliu","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-5-in-1-seed-sized-surgical-robot-5arkmiliu"},"datePublished":"2026-08-10T14:41:04.408Z","dateModified":"2026-08-10T14:41:48.281Z","description":"Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore have developed a 4.4 mm seed-sized soft robot capable of performing five distinct surgical functions...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/15a2eaa97d7efea98e4919f0c91e68b7?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/15a2eaa97d7efea98e4919f0c91e68b7?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Robohub","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Robohub","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/79911e4f3a514623a70a98793133f536","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/robohub"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-5-in-1-seed-sized-surgical-robot-5arkmiliu","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Robohub","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/robohub"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A ‘5-in-1’ seed-sized surgical robot"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-5-in-1-seed-sized-surgical-robot-5arkmiliu#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How does the NTU Singapore miniature surgical robot switch between multiple functions?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The robot switches between five functions by reprogramming a central magnetic module that can be magnetised, demagnetised, and remagnetised in different directions in under a second. Each magnetic orientation activates a different function — cutting tissue, releasing drugs, gripping samples, storing tissue, or generating heat. Different regions of the robot are engineered to respond independently to the same magnetic field, so only the relevant part changes shape. Robotics and biomedical engineers tracking surgical micro-robot research follow developments like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```