News & Analysis
MEMS microbots square off in Alaska
R Colin Johnson
5/4/2010 12:28 PM EDT
The MMC, a product of collaboration between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society to create the Mobile Microrobotics Challenge, features seven teams competing with micron-scale robots on three tasks. In the two-millimeter dash, the robots will sprint down a track the size of a pinhead. In the second task, the robots will attempt to insert correct pegs into the correct holes. The final freeform task will be up to the teams, but is supposed to demonstrate system reliability, a high level of autonomy, ultra low power consumption and high task complexity.
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| A microrobot fabricated by Switzerland's ETH team in Zurich, compared in size to the head of a fruit fly. |
Because there are no power sources or electronics small enough to fit on such tiny microbots, they are operated by remote control using either electrical, magnetic, or in some cases, both types of fields.
The seven teams competing in the MMC are from, respectively, Carnegie-Mellon University (Pittsburgh), ETH (Zurich), the FEMTO-ST Institute and the Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique (ISIR, Paris), Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, N.J.), the University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland), the University of Waterloo (Ontario) and the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Maryland).
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| Carnegie-Mellon University microbot is about 500 micrometers in lengh—the same size as an amoeba. |
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DrQuine
8/7/2010 12:00 AM EDT
We typically envision advances in robotics as enabling the robots to solve more complex problems. This article describes challenges in a completely different domain - the microscopic domain. It will be very interesting to see what unexpected problems can be solved as these technologies advance.
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Robotics Developer
8/7/2010 3:55 PM EDT
I could see medical uses for these types of small robots. I am thinking of clot busters, artery cleaning, internal injury first aid, to mention a few. The question is not if, but when will these be commonplace? Just the other day I heard a commercial for the DaVinci Robot surgery center at a nearby hospital. They talked about the precision robot tool directed by the hand of the surgeon and the reduction in recovery time due to the minimal invasive nature of this new surgery method. With the reduction to micrometer size I could see many more uses and improvements in surgery and treatments.
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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/poconoarmchairreview
8/7/2010 5:17 PM EDT
You'd certainly be motivated to pay your doctor's bill if you had some of these in your body operated by remote control.
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