Stereotaxis magnetic navigation (2000s)
Stereotaxis developed catheter systems steered by external magnets to treat heart arrhythmias, eliminating the need for manual catheter manipulation inside the heart.
Cardiologists gained a way to guide flexible catheters to precise spots in the heart using magnetic fields.
External magnetic steering of cardiac instruments became an established clinical tool, though it still relies on rigid catheters threaded through blood vessels.
The millirobots use the same principle of external magnetic guidance but in a free-floating, untethered form, far smaller than any catheter-based system.
