The inventors of a robot crab the size of a flea have suggested that future releases could travel through the arteries of patients with heart disease to remove blockages.
Measuring about half a millimeter in diameter, the “crab-bot” is said to be the robot that walks with the smallest remote control. You can run sideways, turn and jump. Scientists behind it have also produced millimeter-sized caterpillars, crickets and beetles.
They believe that technology could be used to create micro-robots capable of working in tiny spaces, including the human body.
The device can pass through the eye of a needle and may one day reach the human body
NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY
Professor John Rogers of Northwestern University in Illinois said: “You can imagine micro-robots as agents to repair or assemble small structures or machines in industry or as surgical assistants to clean clogged arteries, stop internal bleeding or to remove cancerous tumors …