This Tiny Robotic Crab Is the World’s Smallest Remote-Controlled Walking Robot
The next time you feel a bug crawl across your skin, have no fear—it might just be a tiny robot crab. (Okay, maybe you can have some fear.)
Engineers at Northwestern University have unveiled a tiny robotic crab that they claim is the smallest ever remote-controlled walking robot. According to the team’s new paper published Wednesday in the journal Science Robotics, the machine is just a half-millimeter wide and can sit on the edge of a penny with room to spare.
Horrifyingly, the researchers also created a veritable swarm of other creature-inspired machines, including robotic beetles, crickets, and inchworms. After all, they were so preoccupied about whether they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should create robot creepy crawlies. While spine shivering, the team believes that their devices are a big step forward to creating practical robots that can perform remote-controlled tasks in tiny spaces.
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