Microbots interactive health exhibit

Researchers in the Mathematical Biology group at the University of Birmingham have developed a new interactive exhibit for the thinktank Birmingham Science Museum's Future Gallery.

The exhibit explores the potential use of 'microbots' (miniature robots less than 1 mm in size) to deliver targeted medical treatments in the future. While it may seem like something from science fiction, everything in the exhibit is embedded in scientific research carried out in the group.

Control your very own microbot!

The exhibit opens to the public on 30 September and will offer visitors the chance to take control of a scaled up version of the microbot to treat a bacterial infection.

To mimic a real-life scenario (where a surgeon would need to know where the microbot is in the body), a camera tracks the microbot movement. Its position is then projected onto a maze of the human body within the computer game.

The user must collect antibiotic and deliver it to an infection to kill the bacteria as quickly as they can. Along the way, the user learns about antimicrobial resistance, how things swim at the microscale (this is very different to how you or I swim!), tracking the movement of objects using image analysis, and, of course, how we’re using mathematics to help with all of these things.

The exhibit forms part of thinktank's Future programme, which aims to (MORE INFO REQUIRED). The Future programme runs from YYYY to VVVV 2020. To find out more, please follow the link below:

thinktank - Future programme (ADD LINK)

Visiting thinktank

Thinktank is open from 10am - 5pm 7 days a week (including bank holidays) with last admission at 4pm. For ticket prices and details on how to get to the museum, please follow the link below:

Visit - thinktank

More about the exhibit