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There is a new trend for developing tiny robots, involving technologies from drones to pills.
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Potential uses include surgery, biomedicine, surveillance and rescue work.
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Here are five of the most notable examples of tiny robots.
Copyright: weforum.org – “Five of the world’s tiniest robots”
Fast forward several decades into the 21st century, when I started my career as a robotics researcher taking inspiration from neuroscience to implement artificial perception systems. I thought of robots as machines that range from the size of a pet animal to big devices designed to carry out heavy-duty chores. However, I soon started to hear the first hints about research into miniature robots playing exactly the type of role the miniature scientists in Fantastic Voyage acted out. Did this mean that what I imagined as a child was about to come true?
Recently, a team of researchers from Stanford University, California, achieved the first milestone towards the development of 7.8mm wide origami robots: a proof-of- concept prototype. They dubbed it a millirobot. The robot uses the folding/unfolding of Kresling origami to roll, flip and spin. These robots are operated wirelessly using magnetic fields to move in narrow spaces and morph their shape for medical tasks, such as disease diagnosis, drug delivery, and even surgery. They are a part of a new trend in what is called “tiny robot” research.
The range of technologies and uses for tiny robots is broad, from drones to pills, and from surveillance and rescue to biomedicine.
Here are five outstanding examples of tiny robots:
1. Black hornet spy drones
Designed and commercialised by American tech conglomerate Teledyne to give foot soldiers covert awareness of potential threats. It’s small enough to fit into an adult’s palm and is almost silent. It has a battery life up to 25 minutes and a range of up to 2km. These drones transmit live video and high definition images back to the operator. They cost $200,000 (£165,000).
Source: SwissCognitive
