Very Small Robots

Small task specific robotics are a long time interest.  With clear application for pharma delivery and other healthcare sensor and related work.

Introducing the World’s smallest Microelectronic robot
This breakthrough invention would pave the way for the use of autonomous microbots in targeted medicinal delivery
By Faisal Khan

Tiny robots are nothing new to the world of technology, but this recent invention claims to be the smallest of them all. Nanobots are hypothesized solutions of the future, which can deliver targeted medication within a human body. If this idea eventually gets materialized, it would be the first such step in that direction. The team of international researchers working on this novel concept was led by Prof. Dr. Oliver G. Schmidt, Chair of the Professorship of Material Systems for Nanoelectronics at Chemnitz University of Technology.

Researchers on the team claim they have created the smallest Microelectronic robot of the world — more importantly, one which is propelled by “jet engines.” Dr. Schmidt, a pioneer in the field of micro-robotics and micrometers, along with his three colleagues conceived the idea of the smallest man-made jet engine in 2010. He received the Guinness World Record for his amazing invention.
Building on the decade-old research, Schmidt along with this fellow researchers at the Technical University of Dresden and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Changchun have now come up with a microelectronic robot which is 0.8 mm long, 0.8 mm wide and 0.14 mm tall — for context, a one-cent coin has a diameter of around 16mm.

“We construct the microbot initially in such a way that it swims in circles if no heat is applied at all. If some heat is applied, the turning is compensated and the microbot swims in a straight line. If more heat is applied, the microrobot turns in the other direction.”
~Dr. Oliver G. Schmidt, Lead Researcher ... "