Pinworm-Sized Robot Marks a Step Toward Using Devices Inside Humans

The robot, a rectangular sheet approximately four millimeters long and one millimeter wide, is made of silicone rubber and embedded with magnetic particles. The researchers, who described their work on Wednesday in the journal Nature, maneuvered the bot with an external magnetic control. The robot shortens and lengthens itself like an inchworm to walk and curls onto itself like a caterpillar to roll. Along with swimming, the robot can skim the surface of water much like a beetle larva. To pick up cargo, the robot curls over the object and grips it with both ends before rolling away to its target destination.