Measures no more than 0.4 inches
Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a tiny robot which can go inside the human body to kick- start chemical processes. It is not more than 0.4 inches and mostly made of a soft water-filled gel and no complex electronics. The inside skeleton is made of nickel filaments.
The robot’s movement is controlled by pinning a magnetic field in the direction it is supposed to go. The soft hydrogel are chemically synthesized to respond to light. It has four legs which can take one step per second like human walking speed and is controlled by an external source. Its legs can be used to pick up chemical cargo and transport it to the destination. There it “breakdances” to release the chemical and start a reaction (Since combined light and magnetic field makes it stiff and then loose – it is called Breakdancing). The research team is eager to use this robot in the field of medicine to deliver actual chemicals to specific tissues in the near future.
