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MU junior expects big things from tiny robot

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Miami University junior Justinn Eddie (left) and Osama Ettouney, chairman of the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department, are working to create a nano-sized robot that could deliver nutrients or medicine from inside the body. Contributed photo

Contributed Miami University junior Justinn Eddie (left) and Osama Ettouney, chairman of the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department, are working to create a nano-sized robot that could deliver nutrients or medicine from inside the body. Contributed photo

Robot could deliver medicine from inside the body

By Elizabeth Hagedorn, Contributing Writer Updated 1:48 PM Friday, November 20, 2009

Miami University junior Justinn Eddie spends a lot of his time playing with remote-controlled robots, but not just for fun.

Eddie, a mechanical engineering major from Cleveland, is working on an invention of a nano-sized robot that would be implanted under the skin or inside a vein and would travel on its own from one place to another to deliver nutrients or medicine within the human body.

“If you were to enlarge it, it would look like a capsule, maybe football shaped, and have some sort of propeller for guidance to allow it to move throughout the body, but you wouldn’t see it or feel it,” Eddie said.

“It would have to somehow communicate to the outside, via small radio communication,” Eddie said.

Eddie not only has the focus to complete a project of this size, but he also has the inspiration.

“My little sister is diabetic and consistently needs insulin, which is only delivered through an outside pump that’s kind of clunky,” Eddie said.

“Theoretically, it’s possible to make a robot at the nano level that could be implanted and deliver the insulin to her pancreas,” he said. “She was only 7 when she was diagnosed, so having a device inside doing all the work would have made life a lot easier.”

Eddie first started work on the project during his freshman year with his mentor Osama Ettouney, chairman of the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department at Miami, through a program called Undergraduate Research Option, a part of the Scholastic Enhancement Program.

“It’s very impressive that a young man coming from high school wanted to do something so large,” Ettouney said. “As a first year student, Justinn could comprehend the concepts of research and engineering design and lab work, and I just don’t see that in most students in their first semester.”

Eddie first started by researching other developments in nano-technology and then worked out a design with a larger model, because working on the nano level is very difficult, Ettouney said.

When creating his macro-size robot, Eddie focused on its sensory capability. He hopes that if the nano version of the robot was put inside a human, it could detect an increase or decrease in blood pressure that could lead to a heart attack and help save the patient.

Ettouney said he believes Eddie is the youngest inventor he has seen to work on such a project.

“Justinn is very ambitious in the positive meaning of that word. He has determination and consistency,” Ettouney said. “We will be hearing about him years from now.”

Eddie devoted about six hours a week working on the project his freshman year at Miami.

Now, in his junior year, Eddie, who also runs track and field and is involved in the Christian organization Athletes in Action, is hoping to pull together an interdisciplinary engineering team — such as chemists, computer engineers and physics majors — on the Miami campus to take his invention to the next level.

“My passion is applying engineering in a way that could heal and help individuals,” Eddie said. “I just want to thank God for this opportunity. It is a blessing to be here.”

Eddie knows his project is a long time from being completed, but he said he is prepared to make this implantable mobile robot his life’s work.

“My passion is applying engineering in a way that could heal and help individuals. I just want to thank God for this opportunity. It is a blessing to be here.”

Justinn Eddie

Miami University junior

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