Localized viscoelasticity measurements with untethered intravitreal microrobots

Microrobots are a promising tool for medical interventions and micromanipulation. In this paper, we explore the concept of using microrobots for microrheology. Untethered magnetically actuated microrobots were used to characterize one of the most complex biofluids, the vitreous humor. In this work we began by experimentally characterizing the viscoelastic properties of an artificial vitreous humor. For comparison, its properties were also measured using special microcantilevers in an atomic force microscope (AFM) setup. Subsequently, an untethered device was used to study the vitreous humor of a porcine eye, which is a valid ex-vivo model of a human eye. Its viscoelasticity model was extracted, which was in agreement with the model of the artificial vitreous. The existing characterization methodology requires eye and vitreous humor dissection for the microrheology measurements. We envision that the method proposed here can be used in in vivo.