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Developed by Researchers from Universities in the United States, the Microscopic Robots Measure Only 200 × 300 × 50 Micrometers, Operate Totally Autonomously, Are Powered by Light, Cost About a Cent per Unit, and Inaugurate a New Scale for Scientific and Industrial Applications
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan have developed autonomous and programmable robots measuring 200 × 300 × 50 micrometers, powered by light, capable of operating for months, costing about a cent, and perceiving their environment without external control.
Submillimeter Robots Break Historical Limit of Autonomous Robotics
Described in the journals Science Robotics and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the robots operate without wires, magnetic fields, or joystick-like control, being presented as the first truly autonomous and programmable ones at this scale.
Each unit measures about 200 by 300 by 50 micrometers, dimensions smaller than a grain of salt and close to the scale of many biological microorganisms, allowing for new medical and industrial applications in microscopic environments.
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According to the researchers, the achieved miniaturization represents a 10,000-fold reduction in the size of autonomous robots, opening an unprecedented operational range for nearly invisible programmable systems.
The project was led by Marc Miskin, an assistant professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering, who emphasizes that robotics has remained limited for decades to the submillimeter level.
Physics of the Microscale Requires Abandonment of Mechanical Legs and Arms
Although electronic components have continuously shrunk, robots have found it difficult to keep up with this trend, especially below one millimeter, an area considered stagnant for about 40 years, according to the researchers themselves.
At the microscale, dominant forces change radically. Gravity and inertia, relevant in the human world, give way to surface effects like drag and viscosity, which begin to control movement in liquids.
In this regime, pushing water is akin to pushing tar, rendering traditional strategies based on articulated limbs ineffective, as well as fragile and difficult to manufacture at such small dimensions.
Given this scenario, the team opted for a completely new propulsion system designed to work in harmony with microscopic physics, rather than trying to replicate solutions used by larger robots.
Electric Propulsion Allows Swimming Without Moving Parts
Unlike fish, which propel themselves by pushing water backward, the microscopic robots do not flex their bodies during movement, adopting an approach based on electric fields.
By generating an electric field, the robots propel ions in the surrounding solution. These ions, in turn, displace nearby water molecules, animating the fluid around the robot’s body.
This effect creates the sensation that the robot is in a flowing river, with the robot itself also responsible for generating this flow by adjusting the field as necessary.
The controlled variation of the electric field allows for complex trajectories and coordinated movement in groups, similar to schools of fish, with speeds of up to one body length per second.
As the electrodes have no moving parts, the robots exhibit high durability and can be repeatedly transferred between samples with micropipettes without suffering structural damage.
Light Energy Sustains Operation for Months
The robots are powered by light from LEDs, a sufficient source to maintain their continuous operation for months, eliminating the need for conventional batteries or external physical connections.
This feature expands their potential use in delicate indoor environments, such as biological samples, where cables, magnetic fields, or external controls would be unfeasible or interfere with the results.
Energy autonomy reinforces the independent nature of the machines, which perform programmed tasks without the need for constant supervision or direct human intervention during operation.
This set of attributes consolidates the devices as a new class of microscopic robots capable of operating for long periods with minimal maintenance.
Integration of Microscopic Computers Enables Autonomous Decisions
For a robot to be truly autonomous, it is necessary to incorporate a computer, sensors, propulsion control, and power source within a space smaller than one millimeter, a challenge undertaken by the team at the University of Michigan.
The group led by David Blaauw holds the record for the smallest computer in the world, an essential experience for enabling the embedded electronics in the microscopic robots.
The meeting between Miskin and Blaauw occurred five years ago during a presentation organized by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, when the complementarity between propulsion and computing became clear.
Even so, five years of joint development were necessary to deliver the first fully functional robot, integrating movement, processing, and sensing on a single chip.
Circuits Operate with Only 75 Nanowatts
The main obstacle for electronics has been energy limitation. The microscopic solar panels produce only 75 nanowatts, over 100,000 times less energy than a smart watch consumes.
To overcome this restriction, the team developed special circuits capable of operating at extremely low voltages, reducing the computer’s energy consumption by over 1000 times.
Still, the solar panels occupy most of the available surface area, leaving minimal space for the processor and memory responsible for storing the programs.
It was necessary to completely rethink the computational instructions, condensing multiple traditional operations into single instructions, reducing the size of the code and allowing it to be executed in the available space.
First Submillimeter Robot with Complete Brain
With these innovations, the researchers claim to have created the first submillimeter robot capable of thinking, integrating processor, memory, and sensors into a microscopic autonomous device.
As far as the team knows, no previous project had managed to embed a complete computer into a robot of this scale, a milestone that sets these devices apart from earlier solutions controlled externally.
This capability allows the robots to sense their environment, make decisions, and act independently, characterizing a new stage in micro-scale robotics.
The researchers emphasize that this combination of autonomy, programming, and miniaturization redefines the limits of what is possible in microscopic robotic systems.
Thermal Sensors Monitor Cellular Activity
Among the embedded features are electronic sensors capable of detecting temperature with an accuracy of one-third of a degree Celsius, a relevant value for biological monitoring at the cellular level.
With this sensitivity, the robots can move toward regions of increasing temperature or register measurements indicating cellular activity, allowing for the assessment of the health of individual cells.
To communicate this information, a special instruction was created that encodes values, such as temperature, in the movements executed by the robot during a small observable dance under the microscope.
The movements are recorded by a camera and decoded by the researchers, in a process compared to how bees transmit information through movement.
Individual Programming Expands Collective Possibilities
The robots are programmed by light pulses, which also serve as a power source. Each unit has a unique address, allowing the loading of different programs for each robot.
This approach enables different robots to perform specific functions within a larger collective task, increasing the complexity of possible operations in unison.
The ability to assign distinct roles to nearly invisible robots expands the range of applications in environments where traditional interventions would be impossible or imprecise.
According to the researchers, this flexibility marks a significant advancement in cooperative micro-scale systems, despite the extremely small size of the machines.
Platform Opens the Way for More Advanced Versions
The current project is described as a general platform. Its propulsion system integrates efficiently with the electronics, the circuits can be manufactured on a large scale, and the unit cost is estimated at one cent.
Future versions may be able to store more complex programs, move faster, incorporate new sensors, or operate in more challenging environments, maintaining the basic architecture already demonstrated.
The operational longevity, with functioning for months, reinforces the viability of continuous applications in micro-scale scientific and industrial contexts.
For Miskin, the work demonstrates that it is possible to embed a brain, sensor, and motor in something almost invisible and make it survive and function for long periods, opening an unprecedented future for microscopic robotics.
The article was developed based on information released by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan, as described in studies published in the journals Science Robotics and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as statements from the authors involved in the development of the autonomous microscopic robots.
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