Paris (AFP)
Microscopic and hyper-resistant: Researchers have developed tiny robots, the size of a hair, that move on four legs, according to a study published in the journal Nature.
"These robots are so small that they are invisible to the naked eye. They have four legs, powered by on-board solar cells. By sending a laser light on these photovoltaic cells, we can make the legs move, which makes it work. the robot, "Marc Miskin of Cornell University in the United States told AFP.
Each robot consists of a simple circuit made from silicon photovoltaic cells (the body) and four electrochemical actuators (the legs).
According to the study, these 0.1mm mini-robots are robust, and can survive very acidic environments and withstand temperature variations of over 70 degrees Celsius.
These robots - the researchers have produced more than a million of them - "could be injected using hypodermic needles, thus offering the possibility of exploring biological environments," the study notes. Or be useful in materials science, for example for repairing materials at the micro scale.
“50 years of downsizing electronics has led to remarkably tiny technologies: you can build sensors, computers, memory, all in very tight spaces. But if you want a robot, you need a robot. actuators, moving parts ", explains Marc Miskin. But which move without having to carry too heavy or too bulky a source of energy with them.
For now, these microscopic four-legged robots are still far from perfect: they are notably slow and uncontrollable.
But associated with microelectronic components, they could make it possible to build totally autonomous micro-robots, note the authors.
"Although not self-sustaining in their current form, they can be seen as a platform to which" brains "could be attached," explain Allan Brooks and Michael Strano of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a comment also published in Nature. .
But "to arrive at the applications, there is still a lot of work to be done", warns Marc Miskin.
© 2020 AFP