Robot that climbs through gut without losing grip could deliver drugs

Tiny robots with soft, flexible bodies and spiky feet can climb along the moist, slippery inner walls of the lungs and the gut where they could one day deliver drugs and medical sensors in hard-to-reach places. The new "millirobot" – which is a few millimetres long – has feet that stick to tissue surfaces without losing their grip. The robot can resist being dislodged by jarring movements and can even cling to a surface as liquids flush over it, resembling the movement of fluids associated with breathing and digestion. Capable of climbing straight up – and even upside down – inside the human body, the wireless device represents "a significant milestone in soft robotics", says Metin Sitti at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany. Sitti's previous millirobot could walk, roll, swim, jump and crawl along biological tissues, he says.