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Thermal-Powered, Insect-Like Robot Crawls Into Microrobot Contenders' Ring
Tuesday, 06 July 2010 12:24

Tiny, four-sided cilia, pulsating structures that mimic the hairs that line the human windpipe, are arranged in rows along the underside of the robot. Robotic cars attracted attention last decade with a 100-mile driverless race across the desert competing for a $1 million prize put up by the U.S. government.

The past few years have given rise to a growing number of microrobots, miniaturized mobile machines designed to perform specific tasks. And though spectators might need magnifying glasses to see the action, some think the time has come for a microrobotics challenge.

"I'd like to see a similar competition at the small scale, where we dump these microrobots from a plane and have them go off and run for days and just do what they've been told," said Karl Böhringer, a University of Washington professor of electrical engineering. "That would require quite an effort at this point, but I think it would be a great thing."

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