Tiny robots being designed for delicate procedures
Roboticists are envisioning a future in which soft, animal-inspired robots could be safely deployed in difficult-to-access environments, such as in delicate surgical procedures in the human body. Although centimeter-sized soft robots have been created, thus far it has not been possible to fabricate multifunctional, flexible robots that can move and operate at smaller size scales. A team of researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Boston University now has overcome this challenge by developing an integrated fabrication process that enables the design of soft robots on the millimeter scale with micrometer-scale features. To demonstrate the capabilities of their new technology, they created a robotic soft spider — inspired by the millimeter-sized colorful Australian peacock spider — from a single elastic material with body-shaping, motion, and color features. The study is published in Advanced Materials. “The smallest soft robotic systems still...