Universal microbot
A universal micro robot has been created that can walk, crawl, rotate, jump and swim
Drawings and videos – from the Max Planck Institute press release
Millirobot with a talent for versatility of movement – VM.
On the pages of our website, we often talk about micro robots that are designed to act inside the human body and perform tasks for the targeted delivery of medicines, wound healing and clearing clogged blood vessels. But, most of these robots are limited by one principle of movement and because of this they cannot successfully get out of any unforeseen situation. Against the background of these micro-robots, the robot created by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems), Germany, looks like a real "universal". After all, he can walk, crawl, jump, roll and swim, carrying a certain amount of payload.
The natural world is an almost inexhaustible source of ideas for creating both large and tiny robots. If you look at the new micro robot, which is a 4-mm strip of elastic silicone, you can see that one of the ways of its movement exactly repeats the way of movement of the caterpillar. "But our micro–robot is based on ideas taken from many living examples," the researchers write, "These are larvae of some insect species, caterpillars, jellyfish and even spermatozoa."
The micro robot moves due to magnetic microparticles enclosed in the elastic material of its body. Its movements are controlled by an external magnetic field, the strength, shape and other parameters of which researchers can change within wide limits.
The abilities of the new micro robot were demonstrated on a specially created "obstacle course". To overcome this lane, the robot had to walk, roll, crawl through narrow holes, move up, jump and swim through the liquid. And it is especially interesting that in order to overcome some areas, the micro robot had to move, lift and even carry small objects on itself.
After the obstacle course, the micro robot was tested inside an artificial intestine and inside a piece of chicken meat. The tracking of the micro robot was carried out using ultrasound, and the control was carried out using a magnetic field. And this time the micro robot did not "lose face", having successfully coped with all the tasks.
"Our ultimate goal is to create an even smaller micro robot that will be able to deliver the drug exactly to the specified point," the researchers write, "At the same time, the use of the micro robot should be minimally aggressive, the patient should only swallow a capsule with a micro robot that will enter the digestive tract, or it can be injected through a needle directly into the bloodstream a system from where he can move to any point, including the brain and heart."
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