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Army of a Million Microscopic Robots Created to Explore on Tiny Scale
Microscopic robots developed at the University of Pennsylvania move by themselves, using an actuator fashioned from a thin layer of platinum.
Credit: Criss Hohmann
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) researchers have developed microscopic robots that move by themselves, using an actuator fashioned from a thin layer of platinum.
Each robot uses four such actuators as legs, while dorsal solar cells allow the legs to bend in response to sequenced laser light and drive the bodies forward.
UPenn's Marc Miskin and colleagues mass-produced more than 1 million of the microrobots, using a process similar to that used in manufacturing circuit boards.
Miskin said the microrobots demonstrate the possibility of developing and mass-producing devices with on-board electronics.
Next, Miskin said, "We're developing things where we'll have sensing capabilities, we'll have programmability, stuff like that."
From New Scientist
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Abstracts Copyright © 2020 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA
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