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Sub-micrometer light-driven robots can capture and deposit bacteria at chosen spots
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Researchers built microscopic light-driven robots that can navigate through liquid, collect bacteria, and deposit them at selected locations.
This gives engineers a new tool for precise manipulation of biological materials at the microscale, potentially useful in microbiology and biomedical research. It also demonstrates a practical method for propelling and steering tiny robots using light, which could inform future micro-robotics designs.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
The nanorobots are smaller than one micrometer, about 50 times smaller than a human hair.
Steering is achieved by changing light polarization, which aligns antenna wires, while photon recoil provides propulsion.
The robots can make fast 90° turns and can collect, carry, and release bacteria, though speed decreases under load.
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