A team of researchers from the Chinese University in Hong Kong, and universities in Guangxi, Shenzhen, Jiangsu, Yangzhou and Macau, is attempting to develop a swarm of tiny robots — each of which is no larger than a speck of dust — capable of being deployed to cure infected sinuses before being blown out through the nose into a tissue.

According to the researchers, these micro-robots are just a fraction of the width of a human hair and they have already been inserted into animal sinuses in pre-clinical trials.

The researchers explained that the swarms of these dust-sized robots are injected into the sinus cavity through a duct threaded into the nostril. The robot swarm is then guided to the target via electromagnetism, where they can be instructed to heat up and catalyze chemical reactions to eliminate bacterial infections, thereby potentially reducing reliance on antibiotics.

These so-called robots feature magnetic particles “doped” with copper atoms that are inserted into the patient using a catheter. Once inserted, the robots are guided to their target via a magnetic field.

An accompanying optical fiber, which is also inserted into the nostril, can then heat up the swarms, which react to the light from the optical fiber, potentially loosening up and penetrating viscous pus that forms a barrier to the infection site. The optical fiber also encourages the micro-robots to disrupt bacterial cell walls and release reactive oxygen species that destroy the bacteria. During animal trials, the robots successfully eradicated bacteria in pig sinuses and cleared infections in rabbits, reportedly causing no obvious tissue damage.

The study, “Photocatalytic microrobots for treating bacterial infections deep within sinuses,” appears in the journal Science Robotics.