The world’s smallest remote-controlled robot is reminiscent of a crab and walks sideways.
Robotics often creates amazing things. Researchers have developed the smallest walking robot in the world that can even be remotely controlled. At around half a millimeter wide, the micro-robot is smaller than a flea.
It was developed by Northwestern University engineers Eureka Alert reported. The tiny robot is modeled after the appearance of a crab, but that has nothing to do with functionality. The university students who helped develop it found the crab’s side-to-side movement pattern merely amusing for the robot.
According to the researchers, the development of the robot is currently only about testing the production process and trying out the remote control mechanism for the mini crab. The little android looks like this:
The little robot can hardly be seen with the naked eye. Source: Northwestern University
Mini robot does not need its own energy source
Although the robot is remote controlled, it does not need its own power source. This is made possible by the material with which the mini crab was built. It consists of an alloy that adheres to a specific shape recall
can once it is heated. When it cools down again, the material returns to its original shape.
Here’s how the researchers can remotely control the robot’s limbs: They use a laser to heat certain areas, after which the material expands and the crab moves its leg forward. When the laser is no longer aimed at the crab, the material cools quickly and the leg retracts.
The disadvantage of this technique is, of course, that the robot must always be in the field of view of the laser in order to be able to move.
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Exploratory research could lead the way
Although the little crab robot has no real practical use today, it could lay the foundation for many different use cases. One of the researchers, John A. Rogers gives a little glimpse into the future of microrobots:
You can think of microrobots as agents repairing or assembling small structures or machines in industry, or as surgical assistants cleaning clogged arteries, stopping internal bleeding, or removing cancerous tumors—all in minimally invasive procedures.
Similar use cases could also be found by the so-called xenobots, which can even replicate and heal themselves.
Would you let tiny robots like this crawl into your body to stop internal bleeding, for example, or would that be too scary for you? Please let us know.
