Scientists recently invented microscopic robots with four legs that move when stimulated by a laser. This could be injected into the body through hypodermic needles, and can have a lot of use in the field of medicine.
One of the main challenges in the development of these microrobots has been combining control circuitry and moving parts.
The microrobots are said to be less than 0.1 millimetre wide, just as thick as a human hair, and have four moving legs that are controlled by circuitry, and powered by the attached solar cells.
By shooting laser light into these solar cells, the legs were able to move, causing the robot to walk. According to Marc Miskin of the University of Pennsylvania, the key innovation of the research was that the actuators on its legs could be controlled using silicon electronics.
A while ago, researchers in Korea have developed a swimming microrobot that delivers stemcells to the cartilage. These microrobots act as delivery modules and are guided by magnetic field.
But the researchers of the four-legged microrobots acknowledged that their creations are slower, and not easy to control, than other microrobots that swim.
But these robots are prototypes that shows the possibility of integrating electronics with actuators to move around. The next step is to build sophisticated circuitry, and possibly create a much smarter microrobot that actually moves by its own legs.
The researchers envisions biomedical uses for the robots such as repairing materials at the microscale. But the possibilities are endless.
These microrobots can survive highly acidic environments and temperatures of more than 200 degrees Kelvin. They said the new study provides a clear vision for solving the challenge of creating a tiny robot that can be programmable, and autonomous.
