The robot seeks to be a great help for minimally invasive operations on people.
Researchers at Northwestern University in the United States have created what is, for now, the smallest robot in the world.
According to its lead researcher, Yonggang Huang, this robot can walk, crawl, bend, and jump via remote control commands.
the mini crab
Shaped to resemble a crab, the device is 50 times smaller than half a millimeter and cannot be seen with the naked eye.
“Our technology allows for a variety of controlled movement modalities and can walk with an average speed of half its body length per second. This is very difficult for ground-based robots to achieve at such small scales ,” Huang noted.
Interestingly, its displacement shape is very particular, using the advantages of malleable shape memory alloy. This feature allows the mini crab to change position when heat is applied, so with a precision laser at a distance, it is possible to heat specific parts of the robot so that it acts in the way its researchers require.