---
title: "These Vibration-Powered Microbots Are Almost Too Small to See"
description: "Georgia Tech researchers have built tiny microbots that move in response to vibrations — and they could one day attack diseases in your body."
date: "2019-07-18"
modified: "2019-07-18"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/vibration-powered-microbots-too-small"
categories:
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "georgia tech"
  - "microbots"
  - "the digest"
  - "vibrations"
---

# These Vibration-Powered Microbots Are Almost Too Small to See

![Georgia Tech researchers have built tiny microbots that move in response to vibrations — and they could one day attack diseases in your body.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/vibration-powered-microbots-too-small.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Georgia Tech via YouTube\</em\>*

## Small Wonders

Researchers from Georgia Tech have created microbots so tiny, they make a penny look massive — and they could one day attack diseases in your body.

According to the team's [paper](<https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6439/ab309b>), which was accepted for publication in the *Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering*, each of the 3D-printed microbots weighs just five milligrams, slightly more than a [grain of sand](<https://www.bluebulbprojects.com/measureofthings/results.php?amt=5&comp=weight&unit=mgs&searchTerm=5+mg>).

The team designed the bots to move in response to vibrations produced by anything from a small acoustic speaker to an attached piezoelectric actuator.

"As the micro-bristle-bots move up and down, the vertical motion is translated into a directional movement by optimizing the design of the legs, which look like bristles," researcher Azadeh Ansari said in a [press release](<http://www.rh.gatech.edu/news/623453/tiny-vibration-powered-robots-are-size-worlds-smallest-ant>). "The legs of the micro-robot are designed with specific angles that allow them to bend and move in one direction in resonant response to the vibration."

## Robot Armies

The Georgia Tech team sees a slew of potential applications for their vibration-powered microbots.

Environmental researchers could use armies of the tiny robots to monitor an ecosystem, while medical experts might one day deploy them in the human body, perhaps to [deliver medications or repair injuries](<https://futurism.com/kurzweil-by-2030-nanobots-will-flow-throughout-our-bodies.md>).

Before that can happen, though, Ansari said the team needs to find a way to scale-up production of their bots and make them more robust.

"These micro-bristle-bots walk nicely in a laboratory environment," she explained, "but there is a lot more we will have to do before they can go out into the outside world."

**READ MORE:** [Tiny Vibration-Powered Robots Are the Size of the World’s Smallest Ant](<http://www.rh.gatech.edu/news/623453/tiny-vibration-powered-robots-are-size-worlds-smallest-ant>) \[Georgia Tech\]

**More on microbots:** *[Watch an Adorably Tiny Robot Go for a Teeny Run](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/robot-tiniest-legs-run.md>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)

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