Researchers Create Laser Guided Bubble Microrobots
Posted on May 22, 2012
Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have created tiny robots made of bubbles that are guided by lasers. One of these microbots (located in the top center of the image) was used to position 100-�m-diameter glass beads to form "UH" for University of Hawaii.
The microrobots consist of very tiny (0.1 to 0.5 mm in diameter) air bubbles inside of a fluid-filled chamber. Light is used to heat the surface of the chamber, which generates a force that moves around the microrobots. These microrobots can be used to move around objects that are less than a millimeter in size. The researchers say this could be useful for building structures made up of living cells. Take a look:
The researchers was present at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation by the University of Hawaii Microdevices & Microfluidics Lab.