{"id":231968,"date":"2026-04-08T14:17:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T00:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=231968"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:17:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T00:17:52","slug":"heart-tech-mini-robot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/08\/heart-tech-mini-robot\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart tech, mini medical robot breakthrough: <abbr>UH<\/abbr> researcher earns $230<abbr>K<\/abbr> award"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_231969\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-231969\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manoa-engineering-tianlu-wang-aha-grant-mini-robot.jpg\" alt=\"small robot next to a penny\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-231969\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manoa-engineering-tianlu-wang-aha-grant-mini-robot.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manoa-engineering-tianlu-wang-aha-grant-mini-robot-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manoa-engineering-tianlu-wang-aha-grant-mini-robot-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-231969\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An example miniature robot developed by Wang\u2019s lab. The miniature robot can access the complex and narrow spaces to retrieve samples and deliver cargo. This work, led by <abbr>PhD<\/abbr> student Debasish Roy, was recently published at the International Conference on Manipulation, Automation and Robotics at Small Scales.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/uhm-sail\/people?authuser=0\">Tianlu Wang<\/a>, an assistant professor in the University of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at <span lang=\"haw\">M&#257;noa<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/me.hawaii.edu\/\">Department of Mechanical Engineering<\/a>, has received the Career Development Award from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart.org\">American Heart Association<\/a> to advance medical research and technology for vascular and heart health. The three-year, $230,727 award supports promising early-career investigators working on innovative solutions in cardiovascular and related biomedical research.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_231971\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-231971\" style=\"width: 214px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manoa-engineering-tianlu-wang-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"person headshot\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-231971\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manoa-engineering-tianlu-wang-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manoa-engineering-tianlu-wang-93x130.jpg 93w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manoa-engineering-tianlu-wang.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-231971\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tianlu Wang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;I am very honored to receive this award,&rdquo; Wang said. &ldquo;This support allows us to explore bold ideas that could change how we approach medical treatment inside the human body, while building a strong network of collaborators who bring different expertise to the table. It\u2019s a great opportunity to train the next generation of engineers and create technologies that could one day make procedures safer and less invasive.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Wang\u2019s project focuses on developing miniature soft robotics combined with artificial intelligence to create new medical devices that can navigate hard-to-reach areas of the body and enhance the function of cardiovascular and neurovascular systems. The work builds on Wang\u2019s previous research on soft robotics inspired by diverse marine life. By studying how small aquatic animals move efficiently through complex environments, his team designs flexible robots that can safely operate in delicate spaces, such as inside the human body.<\/p>\n<p>Related <em><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> News<\/em> stories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/26\/bio-inspired-breakthroughs\/\">Bio-inspired breakthroughs: Engineering solutions from nature<\/a>, August 26, 2025<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/11\/10\/microscopic-soft-robots-medical\/\">Team of microscopic soft robots could transform medical care<\/a>, November 10, 2024<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/06\/robot-tech-to-clean-oceans\/\">Robot tech to clean oceans wows international summit<\/a>, February 6, 2024<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The award also supports collaboration and mentorship with scientists from <abbr>UH<\/abbr> <span lang=\"haw\">M&#257;noa<\/span>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/jabsom.hawaii.edu\/\">John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a>, The Queen\u2019s Medical Center, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These partnerships aim to strengthen research and expand real-world applications of miniature soft robotics in healthcare.<\/p>\n<p>Wang also serves as an adjunct assistant professor at The Queen\u2019s Medical Center and a cooperating faculty in <abbr>UH<\/abbr> <span lang=\"haw\">M&#257;noa<\/span>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.soest.hawaii.edu\/ore\/\">Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The project highlights <abbr>UH<\/abbr> <span lang=\"haw\">M&#257;noa<\/span>\u2019s growing role in robotics and biomedical engineering, with a focus on developing technologies that can improve patient care and address complex health challenges such as sudden cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tianlu Wang\u2019s project focuses on developing miniature soft robotics combined with artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":231969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1602,179,182,31,1467,1363,1496,1237,1600,92,9],"class_list":["post-231968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-ai","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-engineering","tag-john-a-burns-school-of-medicine","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-mechanical-engineering","tag-ocean-and-resource-engineering","tag-public-impact-research","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manoa-engineering-tianlu-wang-aha-grant-mini-robot.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231968"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231975,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231968\/revisions\/231975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}