Neal Ungerleider
Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois have unveiled a new series of self-assembling microrobots which could have major ramifications for nanotechnology. The robots, which are only half a millimeter wide, are controlled via magnetic fields and can perform simple tasks such as opening their jaws or moving around a container of liquid.
They are among the smallest robots ever created.
According to the Department of Energy (DOE), which operates Argonne, the new robots demonstrate the ability to manipulate materials on a miniature level.
The creation of the robots, which are self-assembling and self-repairing, was funded by a DOE project to design active self-assembled materials.
Investment in nanotechnology research has been a DOE priority for quite some time. According to the DOE, one of their pure research goals is to increase scientific knowledge of controlling and manipulating matter at the subatomic level.
An academic paper on the microrobots, written for the journal Nature Materials, claims that the robots are able to pick up and manipulate objects four times larger then themselves and can disassemble and reassemble themselves both spontaneously and by command.
Argonne has been researching miniature robots for years, but these new half-millimeter-wide products are among the first with potential commercial or military applications. While these robots do not appear to be intended for the commercial market, they are being used to test techniques with wide industrial potential.
Co-creators Alexey Snezhko and Igor Aronson control the miniature robots through magnetic fields. The robots are suspended between two liquids and, once magnetic fields are applied, are compelled to perform different behaviors. By activating different numbers and varieties of magnetic fields, the robots can be made to swim, assemble, disassemble and pick up small glass beads. When the fields aren’t apply, the robots simply drift aimlessly.
Snezkho states:
“We can make them open their jaws and close them […] This gives us the opportunity to use these creatures as mini-robots performing useful tasks. You can move them around and pick up and drop objects.”
Argonne National Laboratory is best known as the early home of the Manhattan Project and for their advanced x-ray and nanotech research facilities.
Neal Ungerleider is a New York-based journalist who writes for Talking Points Memo on the intersection of technology and policy.
Sarah Lai Stirland
Sarah Lai Stirland is a reporter for TPM's Idea Lab. She's reported and written on the process of innovation, technology and politics for the past 15 years at a variety of publications. They include Red Herring, National Journal's Technology Daily, the Village Voice, Wired.com, POLITICO and others. She can be reached at: sarah@talkingpointsmemo.com.