The robot smaller than the width of a hair
Scientists at Cornell University have created a tiny micro-robot that "walks" using four legs. Invisible to the naked eye, 10 of the computer chip bots could fit within the full-stop at the end of this sentence.
Their legs can be independently triggered to bend using laser light. As the laser is toggled back and forth between the front and back legs, the robot walks.
It would take less than a week to make a swarm of a million of the robots, which Itai Cohen and Paul McEuen Labs hope could be adapted to become a medical tool.
They are small enough to be injected into the body and Prof Cohen hopes eventually robots like these could be designed to hunt down and destroy cancer cells.
(Image: Microbot, Credit: Marc Miskin / Itai Cohen and Paul McEuen Labs / Cornell University, USA.)
Video by Jennifer Green, interview by Ania Lichtarowicz and Gareth Mitchell.
Duration:
This clip is from
Featured in...
2020: Medical breakthroughs and discoveries—Digital Planet
Astonishing innovations from the fields of medical research
Watch: World Service videos—ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service special collections
A snapshot of great experiences, solutions and situations
More clips from Digital Planet
-
Electricity from human waste—Data in disaster zones
Duration: 02:58
-
Iran: Controlling protesters via their phones
Duration: 05:53