This paper gives details of the design, and the actual building and testing, of an electronic leech:
“Diseño de una sanguijuela electrónica” [Design of an electronic leech].[Article in Spanish], Rev Invest Clin. 2014 Jul;66 Suppl 1:S94-9.
Authors: Lomelí-Mejía PA, Domínguez-Rubio R, Espinosa-Gutiérrez A, Lecona-Butrón H, Rodríguez-Reyna RM.
The authors, at Laboratorio de Biomecánica, Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitación, explain: “This research presents the development of a continual suction electromechanical device (CSED) which emulates the feeding characteristics of a medicinal leech to drain body fluids. After the research, design and building of the device, its performance in normal conditions with fluids of different viscosity was evaluated. Finally, the device was submitted to a test of blood draining in three adult male rabbits NZW with a weight of three kilograms, obtaining drain.”
(Thanks to Irma Aguilar-Delfin for bringing this to our attention.)