Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Carlos Franco is a leading researcher at the intersection of small-scale robotics and advanced materials, with a focus on biodegradable and biocompatible systems for biomedical applications. His most impactful work includes the development of **MOFBOTs**—biodegradable metal-organic framework (MOF)-based microrobots that serve as highly efficient drug delivery carriers, addressing the critical limitations of low drug loading and poor degradability in conventional microrobots (129 citations). He has pioneered the use of biotemplating, assembling MOF nanocrystals onto magnetic helical structures derived from *Spirulina platensis* cyanobacteria to create biohybrid robots (50 citations). Perhaps his most creative contribution is the **CANDYBOTS** concept—3D-printed, sugar-based transient robots that are inherently degradable and biocompatible, opening new avenues for temporary therapeutic devices (43 citations). Franco’s work consistently emphasizes translational potential, as seen in his development of polyvinyl alcohol-based soft microswimmers with tunable stability (37 citations). By merging materials science with microrobotics, he is defining a new generation of safe, transient, and functional medical robots that could one day navigate the human body for targeted therapy.