Scientists in Germany have developed a small, intelligent robot that can be transported inside the human body to heal wounds, clean clogged arteries and deliver drugs.
The technology is known as Millirobot and is controlled magnetically. Only four millimeters in size, it can practically walk, crawl or roll through uneven terrain, climb onto the water surface, and even swim in it.
Developed by scientists at the Stuttgart-based Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Millirobot has a flexibility that no other small-sized robot has. It has the ability to easily switch from swimming in the water to running on land. So despite having no legs, this robot can move around as freely as a caterpillar.
"We looked at the physical mechanism of locomotion of soft-bodied caterpillars and jellyfishes and took inspiration from them.
The result is that our millirobot is a mix of small-scale soft-bodied animals, such as a beetle larva, a caterpillar, a spermatozoid, and a jellyfish", says Prof. Metin Sitti, Director of the Physical Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart.
In addition to transporting drugs, Millirobot can lift cargo and deposit it anywhere.
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