World's Smallest Walking Robot Unveiled by Cornell University Researchers
Cornell University researchers have developed the world's smallest walking robot, measuring two to five microns across. These robots can interact with light waves at a scale comparable to the wavelength of light, opening up possibilities for medical and material science applications. Controlled via magnetic fields, the robots can achieve a "walking" motion and are designed to be mobile to reach imaging targets.
To put this into perspective, over 30,000 of these tiny robots could fit on the sharp point of a needle. This remarkable feat opens up exciting possibilities for medical applications and material sciences, as the robot's small size allows it to interact with light waves at a scale comparable to the wavelength of light.
According to team leader Paul McEuen, an emeritus professor at Cornell, "A walking robot that's small enough to interact with and shape light effectively takes a microscope's lens and puts it directly into the microworld. It can perform up-close imaging in ways that a regular microscope never could."
Cornell describes this innovation as the first implementation of diffractive robotics, introducing untethered robots with imaging capabilities at an extreme micro-scale. These robots leverage visible light diffraction, which involves the bending of light waves as they pass through an opening.
The robots, ranging from two to five microns in size, are designed to be mobile to reach specific imaging targets. Controlled via magnetic fields, each micron-scale robot is patterned with hundreds of nano-scale magnets, enabling movement through manipulation of magnetic fields. This unique design allows the robots to achieve a "walking" motion akin to an inch-worm wriggle or even "swim" through fluids.
Francesco Monticone, an associate professor at Cornell, highlights the significance of this advancement, stating, "The miniaturization of robotics has finally reached a point where these actuating mechanical systems can interact with and actively shape light at the scale of just a few wavelengths—a million times smaller than a meter."
These micro-scale robots have the potential to revolutionize various scientific and industrial fields. Visible light diffraction imaging techniques are already utilised in optical microscopy for studying cells and tissues, interferometry for detecting surface irregularities, and super-resolution microscopy for examining proteins and cellular processes.
Looking ahead, the future applications of micro-scale robots could extend to medical uses. Francesco Monticone envisions a scenario where swarms of diffractive microbots perform super-resolution microscopy and sensing tasks while traversing the surface of a sample.
Cornell University researchers have developed the world's smallest walking robot, measuring two to five microns across.
These robots can interact with light waves at a scale comparable to the wavelength of light, opening up possibilities for medical and material science applications.
Controlled via magnetic fields, the robots can achieve a "walking" motion and are designed to be mobile to reach imaging targets.
Source: FORBES