A group of scientists has developed new techniques to create legions of bug-shaped, laser controlled robots each of which is roughly the width of a human hair, with revolutionary applications for surgery techniques and space exploration.
The assistant professor of electrical and systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Marc Miskin, developed the nanofabrication techniques with his colleagues, professor Cohen and Paul MiEuen and researcher Alejandro Cortex during postdoctoral research at Cornell University. For the past decades, they innovated a method of transforming a four-inch specialised silicon wafer into a million tiny robots in just few weeks. Professor Miskin told Express.co.uk: "The age of nanotechnology is now to some extent here - this is the main deal.
"The silicon conductor industry has been miniaturising everything and we have to take a great step ahead."
According to Mr. Miskin, each individual robot has four legs which are 100 atoms thick, and are formed from a bilayer of platinum and titanium, or alternately, graphene.
The researchers shine a laser on one of a robot's solar cells to power it. This makes the platinum in the leg to enlarge, while the titanium remains inflexible, making the limb to bend.
The robots gait is produced because each solar cell causes the alternate contraction or relaxation of the front or back legs.
Professor Miskin added: "Each one is roughly three to five times the size of a human hair.
"You can fit one million of them on a four-inch silicon wafer. It's quite fantastic.
"The legs are very strong. Each robot carries a body that's 1000 times chunky and weighs roughly 8000 times more than each leg."
In a statement, Professor Miskin said, the robots can be injected using a syringe, therefore, their application in surgical techniques is possible. For instance, they could be used to deliver drugs or map the human brain.
He also said that billionaire space flight entrepreneur, Elon Musk - currently planning to establish a colony on Mars - might be interested in them, saying: "it's being stated that the major problem with robots is their size, and that their size should be reduced, which could work for space research."
They can also be used as source of renewable energy, Professor Miskin said.
Robots could be used as "caretakers" for lithium batteries to prevent them from going flat, he explained, greatly prolonging their lives.
Again, he said, "Fifty years ago computers were the size of a table top - presently, we can get 100 million of these robots on one."
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