Cell Sized Robots
13, Oct 2018
Prelims level :
Mains level : GS: Paper – II Statutory, Regulatory & various quasi – Judicial bodies
- MIT scientists have developed a method to mass produce robots no bigger than a cell that could be used to monitor conditions inside an oil or gas pipeline, or to search out disease while floating through the bloodstream by using Auto perforation technique.
About:
- Tiny robots no bigger than a cell could be mass-produced using a new method developed by researchers at MIT called autoperforation.
- The microscopic devices, called “syncells” (short for synthetic cells), might eventually be used to monitor conditions inside an oil or gas pipeline, or to search out disease while floating through the bloodstream.
- The system uses a two-dimensional form of carbon called graphene, which forms the outer structure of the tiny syncells. One layer of the material is laid down on a surface, then tiny dots of a polymer material, containing the electronics for the devices, are deposited by a sophisticated laboratory version of an inkjet printer. Then, a second layer of graphene is laid on top.
- • Embedded inside these pockets are electronic circuits and materials that can collect, record, and output data.
- • These tiny objects “behave like a living biological cell” which can be used in variety of applications.