On September 12, 2025, Professor Yong He and Researcher Jianhua Zhang from the School of Mechanical Engineering invited Metin Sitti—Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Member of the European Academy of Sciences, Member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences, and President of Koç University—to visit Zhejiang University. As the keynote speaker, Metin Sitti attended the Overseas Distinguished Scholars Lecture Series of Zhejiang University (co-hosted by the Forum on the Development of Mechanical Science and Engineering, the M.E Global Seminar Series, and the Forum on Medicine-Engineering-Information Interdisciplinarity) and delivered a wonderful report titled Small Scale Medical Robots Down to Cell Size Inside Our Body. The report meeting was hosted by Huayong Yang, Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Zhejiang University.
Academician Yang hosted the report
In the report, Academician Sitti systematically introduced his team’s latest progress in small-scale medical robots that are navigable, maneuverable, and storable inside the human body. These robots can penetrate deep, narrow, and high-risk areas of the human body that are difficult to reach, and perform a variety of minimally invasive medical tasks including targeted drug delivery, neural stimulation, thrombus removal, biopsy, tissue repair, and hyperthermia. Academician Sitti focused on expounding the technical bottlenecks faced by robots in terms of actuation, energy supply, sensing, and communication under the constraint of small size, and shared the breakthrough achievements made by his team in innovative technologies such as the application of new materials, external physical field (magnetic field, acoustic field, optical field) control, and 3D micro-nano printing.
Academician Sitti delivered an academic report
During the lecture, teachers and students from multiple disciplines including mechanical engineering, materials science, and biomedical engineering actively participated in interactions. They conducted in-depth exchanges on key technical issues such as the challenges of robots in clinical applications, forming and manufacturing technologies, imaging monitoring, and safety. The on-site academic atmosphere was strong, and the participating teachers and students all stated that they had gained great benefits and learned a lot.
The teachers and students present actively participated in exchanges and interactions
The academic atmosphere at the report meeting was rich and vibrant
After the lecture, Academician Yang presented Academician Sitti with a certificate of appreciation and a souvenir for the Overseas Distinguished Scholars Lecture Series.
After the conclusion of the report meeting, accompanied by Academician Yang Huayong and teachers from the college, Academician Sitti visited some exhibition halls and laboratories of the State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, and conducted exchanges and discussions on relevant research.
Brief Introduction
Academician Sitti is an internationally renowned top scholar in the fields of micro-nano robotics and soft robotics. He currently serves as the President of Koç University in Turkey, and previously held positions as the Head of the Department of Physical Intelligence at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Germany, as well as a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) and Carnegie Mellon University.
He has long been committed to research in cutting-edge areas such as micro-nano scale medical robotics, biofabrication, and soft robotics. He has achieved a series of pioneering results in the design, actuation, and control of small-scale robots, as well as their in-vivo medical applications. He has published over 400 papers in international top academic journals including Nature, Science Robotics, and Nature Materials, with more than 50,000 citations on Google Scholar. Additionally, he has been repeatedly selected as a Highly Cited Researcher globally.
Pic：School of Mechanical Engineering, Office of International Cooperation and Exchange
Word：Jianhua Zhang
