You have witnessed a variety of nano-devices that were designed for tasks including delivering medicines within the body. All of them used to move in a variety of ways. However, the latest nano-device is a four-legged nano-robot that will be able to walk up to its target. The technology was first developed by Asst. Prof. Marc Miskin from the University of Pennsylvania when he was a postdoc at Cornell University. Other professors in his team included Itai Cohen and Paul McEuen. The team also had a researcher by the name of Alejandro Cortese.

Thanks to a proprietary multistep nanofabrication method, batches of about a million of the 70-micron-long nano-robots can be manufactured in only weeks. All of them will be created using a single 4-inch silicon composite wafer. Talk about speeding up the manufacturing process and exponentially enhancing the quantity!
Each robot is comprised of an ultrathin glass rectangle that has been crowned with a silicon layer.

The silicon layer features the electronic control components and two or four solar cells. The legs, four of them, are crafted using a material that is 100-atom thick. The material has a layer of platinum and another layer of titanium (although titanium can be replaced with graphene as well).

News This Week

Does Space-Time Really Exist?

Is time something that flows — or just an illusion? Exploring space-time as either a fixed “block universe” or a dynamic fabric reveals deeper mysteries about existence, change, and the very nature of reality. [...]

Sugar-Coated Nanoparticles Boost Cancer Drug Efficacy

A team of researchers at the University of Mississippi has discovered that coating cancer treatment carrying nanoparticles in a sugar-like material increases their treatment efficacy. They reported their findings in Advanced Healthcare Materials. Over a tenth of breast [...]

Nanomotors: Where Are They Now?

First introduced in 2004, nanomotors have steadily advanced from a scientific curiosity to a practical technology with wide-ranging applications. This article explores the key developments, recent innovations, and major uses of nanomotors today. A [...]