AI-enhanced magnetically controlled 4D printing: Reshaping the future of medical robotics

Abstract

As a frontier interdisciplinary breakthrough, magnetically controlled 4D printing integrates smart materials, additive manufacturing, and magnetic actuation, and is contributing considerably to healthcare practices. By introducing time as the fourth dimension, magnetic 4D-printed devices can dynamically transform their structure and function in response to physiological or external magnetic stimuli, enabling minimally invasive interventions with enhanced adaptability and precision. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into magnetically controlled 4D printing accelerates material discovery, optimizes design and manufacturing, and enables intelligent navigation and control in complex in vivo environments. Recent advances highlight promising applications in interventional therapy, targeted drug delivery, and tissue repair, yet challenges remain in achieving biocompatible multifunctional materials, scalable fabrication, and safe clinical translation. Looking ahead, synergistic integration of AI with multimodal actuation, digital twins, and biomimetic systems may unlock unprecedented opportunities for personalized, adaptive, and intelligent medical robots. This perspective outlines current progress, key challenges, and future directions of AI-enhanced magnetically controlled 4D printing, underscoring its transformative potential in redefining next-generation medical robotics.  

Keywords

AI-enhanced 4D printing / Magnetic actuation / Medical robotics

Funding

This work was partially supported by grants from the following sources: Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No.7254466), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32371477, 82572451), the Ningbo Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics, Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation (2024L004), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2024JBMC011), the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China (No. 2024Z0560M5001), the Natural Science Projects funded by Hebei Province (No. E2024105049), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 92359301), the Ningbo Top Medical and Health Research Program (No. 2022020506), and Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Precision Cell Therapy (2024SSY06241).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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