Written by AZoOpticsJan 21 2021
Robots are extensively used to paint airplanes, make cars, and sew clothing in factories. However, the assembly of microscopic components, for example, those used for biomedical applications, is yet to be automated.
Lasers could offer a solution to this problem. Scientists have now used lasers to develop miniature robots using bubbles that lift, drop, and control tiny pieces into interconnected structures. The study results have been published in the
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces journal.
With the miniaturization of manufacturing, objects with a length only a few hundred micrometers, or about the thickness of a sheet of paper, are now being developed. However, it is challenging to assemble such tiny pieces by hand.
Credit: Video credit belongs to the American Chemical Society.
Robots are widely used to build cars, paint airplanes and sew clothing in factories, but the assembly of microscopic components, such as those for biomedical applications, has not yet been automated. Lasers could be the solution. Now, researchers reporting in
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have used lasers to create miniature robots from bubbles that lift, drop and manipulate small pieces into interconnected structures. Watch a video of the bubble microrobots in action here.
As manufacturing has miniaturized, objects are now being constructed that are only a few hundred micrometers long, or about the thickness of a sheet of paper. But it is hard to position such small pieces by hand. In previous studies, scientists created microscopic bubbles using light or sound to assemble 2D items. Also, in a recent experiment, microbubbles produced by lasers, focused and powerful beams of light, could rotate shapes in 3D space