Researchers 3D print robot the size of a single-cell organism — devices move and navigate even without a ‘brain,’ uses their shape and the environment to get going

Researchers from Leiden University in the Netherlands successfully 3D printed a microscopic robot that moves around like a single-celled organism, despite not having a brain. According to the institution, these robots measure between 0.5 and 5 micrometers and can travel at speeds of 7 micrometers per second. By comparison, human hair is about 70 to 100 micrometers thick, showing how tiny these 3D robots are. The university also noted that these devices are printed at the very edge of what is technically possible at the moment.

Microrobots - by Professor Daniela Kraft and postdoc Mengshi Wei - Universiteit Leiden - YouTube

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But what’s more interesting is how these microrobots achieve movement without sensors, motors, a processor, or even external control. Instead, they propel themselves based on their shape and how the environment interacts with that. These bots are inspired by the movements of similar biological creatures.

“Animals like worms and snakes constantly adapt their shape as they move, which helps them to navigate their environments,” Prof. Daniela Kraft, one of the researchers who worked on the project, said. “However, until now, microrobots were either small and rigid or large and flexible. We wondered if we could realize small and flexible microrobots in our lab.”

The microrobots spring into motion when exposed to an electric field, with their soft, chain-like structure moving in various ways. “We discovered there’s continuous feedback between the shape and motion of the robot: the shape influences how it moves, and its movements in turn alters its shape,” says Prof. Kraft. “This microrobot therefore senses how the environment changes its body and reacts to it, making it appear life-like. This means that we don’t need microscopic electronics for integrating smart abilities.”

Postdoctoral researcher Mengshi Wei also added, “When the robot is slowed down or even stopped, it starts to wave its tail as if it wants to break free. This happens before the elements in the back still want to move, and they can do so because of their flexibility.”

These tiny robots have a lot of potential in medicine, with their size and natural movement making them great candidates for targeted drug delivery, minimally invasive surgery, and diagnostics. Still, there is a lot of work to be done, including the need to understand what exactly causes its movement and what capabilities we could extract out of them.

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