Dartmouth researchers create world's smallest controllable robot

Researchers at Dartmouth College, lead by Computer Science Professor Bruce Donald, have announced they've created what seems to be the world's smallest controllable untethered robot.  The microbot is — get this — as wide as a human hair and half the width of a period. Or, as PhysOrg's clever candy-analogy describes it, 200 of these little bots could march in a line across the top of a plain M&M (guess those fellas are allergic to the peanut variety). The researchers see a wide range of uses for the microbots, ranging from inspecting and repairing an integrated circuit to exploring hazardous environments to biotechnology applications like manipulate cells or tissues.