"A walking robot that's small enough to interact with and shape light effectively takes a microscope's lens and puts it directly into the microworld," said Paul McEuen, professor of physical science emeritus, who led the team. "It can perform up-close imaging in ways that a regular microscope never could."
Cornell scientists already hold the world's record for the world's smallest walking robot at 40-70 microns. The new diffractive robots are 'going to blow that record out of the water,' said Itai Cohen, professor of physics and co-author of the study. "These robots are 5 microns to 2 microns. They're tiny. And we can get them to do whatever we want by controlling the magnetic fields driving their motions."
Controlled by magnets making a pinching motion, the robots can inch-worm forward on a solid surface. They can also 'swim' through fluids using the same motion.
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