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This could one day be used as a blueprint for mini robotic surgeons or explorers. Each exoskeleton starts out as a sheet of plastic onto which the robot, known as Primer, rolls. One gives it the ability to roll, meaning it can move twice as fast as without the exoskeleton; another is shaped like a boat, letting it float on water and carry nearly twice its weight. "In the future, we imagine robots like this could become mini surgeons, squished into a pill that you swallow," says Daniela Rus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.