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An electromagnetic robot for navigating medical devices

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The Navion, a clinical-scale electromagnetic navigation system, is the result of over 20 years of development. Its motivation began in 2003 with the goal of controlling the motion of magnetic microrobots; however, its first clinical use is proving to be for guiding magnetic catheters, guidewires and endoscopes.

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Fig. 1: Use and schematic of the Navion.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Bradley J. Nelson

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  1. Bradley J. Nelson
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Correspondence to Bradley J. Nelson.

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Competing interests

B.J.N. is a co-inventor on patents related to eMNS systems and a co-founder of MagnetbotiX AG and Nanoflex Robotics AG, two companies that market the Navion. He is the Founding Chairman of Nanoflex Robotics.

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Nelson, B.J. An electromagnetic robot for navigating medical devices. Nat Rev Bioeng 2, 370–371 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-024-00174-5

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