It's time to take a glimpse into the future -- the future of what will someday be swimming in your bloodstream. Video highlights from the 2010 NIST Mobile Microrobotics Challenge have started trickling out, and we're mighty impressed. Through various events, like the 2mm dash, universities and institutions competed to determine whose
tiny contraptions would reign supreme. Various competitors won various prizes, with the French CNRS team spanning that 2mm distance in an amazing 32ms, while Swiss team ETH Zurich showed its prowess at slotting 100µm pins (human hair sized) into impossibly small holes. That's a picture of one of the competition arenas above, and we think you'll want to see the video of ETH's tiny bulldozer doing its thing after the break. In a few years we figure these little suckers will be doing something like this in your body, but instead of assembling puzzles they'll be overcoming natural defenses and removing your will to live.
posted June 3rd 2010 5:14AM
Damn tiny machines, you scary!
@Thomsonbear
The title brings up memories of the Micro Machine toy cars I used to play with as a kid. Those were awesome, but this thing is insane!
Looks like an LED top down view of Foxcomm.
If you like THAT then just wait for the 16-bit version!
The foreman is watching the work the whole time. Look at him in the corner there.
I've already lost my will to live.....
goodbye
Cute!
Did anybody else immediately think of the tiny toy cars named Micro Machines when they read the title?
@Levi
Yeah, but unfortunately they're not the real thing. :(
So wait, how are these things guided? Not autonomous right?
we are borg, resistance is futile!
@varera
Your face is borg.
Hello New World Order