A QUANTUM OF SCIENCE
Microscopic robots might just be the next big thing.
Robots are cool. Giant robots are cooler. But robots measuring just a few micrometers (millionths of a meter) take the cake. At the National Institute for Standards and Technology, they might just do it literally. In May of 2010, the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation to be held in Anchorage, Alaska will host the NIST Mobile Microrobotics Challenge pitting microbots from around the world against one another in such thrilling challenges as sprinting across a distance equal to the diameter of a pinhead! Operated by remote control and observed by judges literally watching them under a microscope, the microbots will perform tasks such as placing tiny pegs into holes or performing other feats of system reliability, level of autonomy, power management and task complexity.
Still not impressed? How about a rousing game of nanosoccer?
For more information:
Mobile microbots to face big challenge (R&D Magazine)
NIST Nanosoccer event
National Institute of Standards and Technology
© AQOS / P. Smalley (2009)
Reproduction with attribution is appreciation
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