Introducing the revolutionary ‘microrobot’ that’s poised to revolutionize the way we dispense medicine in the future.
Imagine surgeons being able to send out thousands of tiny robots to clear blocked blood vessels. Researchers at Hanyang University made a significant breakthrough in creating miniature robots that can work together, navigate through obstacles, and carry heavy loads.
Reports have surfaced about tiny robots that team up like ants to achieve incredible things. Each about the size of a grain of salt, they show impressive adaptability within their environment and work together to tackle intricate problems.
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They can arrange themselves in various shapes and configurations when interacting with neighbors and when exposed to a rotating magnet field.
Research has focused on spherical robots that only establish point-to-point connections. These cube-shaped robots can develop stronger connections because their entire faces can interlock, much like how two magnets have a stronger attraction when their surfaces come into full contact.
In a collaborative effort, a group of eight robots working together demonstrated the ability to scale walls more than five times their own height. Additionally, certain swarms of robots were able to propel individual robots over obstacles, and others succeeded in transporting objects that weighed 2,000 times more than their own mass across bodies of water.
Ingenuity in the face of disaster often takes cue from the natural world, as evidenced by the survival technique of building makeshift rafts to navigate through raging floods.
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To gently guide ants and pill bugs without harming them, scientists created an innovative way of directing their movements. They designed a feeding control system for bigger insects, like superworms, by selectively obstructing or clearing access to food.
By creating rotating magnetic fields around the robots, experts can get them to spin in one spot or move in circular motions. Adjusting the strength of the magnetic field enables them to switch between various movement patterns.
The future of microrobot swarms will focus on allowing them to perform tasks independently and precisely, explains Hanyang University’s Jeong Jae Wie, a study author. Future work will involve developing control systems that allow the microrobots to adjust their path and movement on a per-project basis.
The main challenge is to create systems that enable these small robots to navigate and make choices on their own.
