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Homebrew robots reach dime size

While we're a bit skeptical of its claimed status to be "quite possibly the world's smallest robot," this so-called Pico bot is certainly impressive enough in its own right -- especially considering that it's the result of a DIY project. As you can see above, the bot is small enough to sit on a dime, yet it still packs enough brains (and power) to move around autonomously (if a little recklessly), motoring about at a top speed of 0.5 feet per second and lasting about 15 minutes before its battery runs dry. While it currently doesn't seem to be capable of much more than the antics on display in the video after break, its creator does see plenty of room for improvement, including adding ZigBee wireless communication, as well as an on-board camera and built-in GPS. Of course, there's also the possibility that someone could take things one step further and amass a pint-sized robot army, letting them annoy their co-workers on a hereto unheard of scale.

[Via MAKE:Blog]