Micro/Nanorobots for Combating Brain Disorders: Challenges, Advances, and Perspectives

Micro/nanorobots (MNRs) offer a transformative approach for precision therapy in brain disorders. By overcoming biological barriers and enabling controlled propulsion, targeted delivery, and real‐time imaging/tracking, MNRs pave the way toward effective, minimally invasive treatments. This review outlines the interplay between brain disease challenges, therapeutic barriers, MNR propulsion strategies, and imaging‐guided applications, highlighting their potential to revolutionize the clinical management of neurological disorders. Abstract Brain disorders pose a significant global health burden, underscoring the urgent need for innovative therapeutic strategies. Conventional treatments are often hindered by poor drug penetration, systemic side effects, and the complex biological barriers of the central nervous system. In recent years, micro/nanorobots (MNRs) have emerged as promising platforms to overcome these limitations. Operating at the micro‐ to nanoscale, MNRs can accomplish targeted biomedical tasks through self‐propulsion (chemical or biohybrid) or external actuation (acoustic, optical, electric, or magnetic), thus enabling unprecedented precision in therapeutic delivery. This review systematically outlines the challenges in treating brain disorders, including major disease stacles. The principles of MNR propulsion and spotlight recent advances in applying MNRs is further summarized for brain disorder therapies, with special emphasis on the crucial roles of image guidance and real‐time tracking in facilitating clinical translation. Finally, it discusses challenges and provides perspectives on future directions. Overall, the rapid development of MNRs holds transformative potential to reshape therapeutic paradigms and accelerate clinical translation for advanced brain disorder treatments. Micro/nanorobots (MNRs) offer a transformative approach for precision therapy in brain disorders. By overcoming biological barriers and enabling controlled propulsion, targeted delivery, and real-time imaging/tracking, MNRs pave the way toward effective, minimally invasive treatments. This review outlines the interplay between brain disease challenges, therapeutic barriers, MNR propulsion strategies, and imaging-guided applications, highlighting their potential to revolutionize the clinical management of neurological disorders. Abstract Brain disorders pose a significant global health burden, underscoring the urgent need for innovative therapeutic strategies. Conventional treatments are often hindered by poor drug penetration, systemic side effects, and the complex biological barriers of the central nervous system. In recent years, micro/nanorobots (MNRs) have emerged as promising platforms to overcome these limitations. Operating at the micro- to nanoscale, MNRs can accomplish targeted biomedical tasks through self-propulsion (chemical or biohybrid) or external actuation (acoustic, optical, electric, or magnetic), thus enabling unprecedented precision in therapeutic delivery. This review systematically outlines the challenges in treating brain disorders, including major disease stacles. The principles of MNR propulsion and spotlight recent advances in applying MNRs is further summarized for brain disorder therapies, with special emphasis on the crucial roles of image guidance and real-time tracking in facilitating clinical translation. Finally, it discusses challenges and provides perspectives on future directions. Overall, the rapid development of MNRs holds transformative potential to reshape therapeutic paradigms and accelerate clinical translation for advanced brain disorder treatments. Advanced Science, Volume 12, Issue 44, November 27, 2025.