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Nano-motors For Microbots

Posted by samzenpus on from the big-things-in-micro-packages dept.

Smivs writes "The BBC are reporting on the development of tiny motors the size of a grain of salt which could power surgical Microbots. Some surgical procedures are hindered by the size or inflexibility of current instruments. For example, the labyrinthine network of blood vessels in the brain prevents the use of catheters threaded through larger blood vessels. Researchers have long envisioned that trends of miniaturisation would lead to tiny robots that could get around easily in the body. The problem until now has been powering them. Conventional electric motors do not perform as well as they are scaled down in size. As they approach millimetre dimensions, they barely have the power to overcome the resistance in their bearings. Now, research reported in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering has demonstrated a motor about 1/4mm wide, about the width of two human hairs."

8 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. What would be awesome by Centurix · · Score: 5, Funny

    "tiny motors the size of a grain of salt which could power surgical Microbots"

    Or, they could power grains of salt. Hours of fun at the dinner table.

    --
    Task Mangler
    1. Re:What would be awesome by ByteSlicer · · Score: 4, Funny

      I predict that within 100 years, these motors will be twice as powerful, ten thousand times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them.

  2. Re:Sizes by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

    In America they have the imperial system. They wouldn't know what fuck a millimeter is. They call them "Eight hairs".

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  3. bloodwork by Iamthecheese · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Can I finally have my artery-clearing, cancer-attacking, medicine-carrying, and blood-clotting robots that will imediately improve my lifespan, quality of life, and allow me to eat all the cheese potato chips I like?

    --
    If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
  4. Worlds smallest singing bass fish by schwillis · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now they can make the worlds smallest animatronic singing bass fish.

  5. That's no nano-motor boy, no nano-motor! by EdZ · · Score: 4, Informative

    0.25mm is hardly nanoscale. It's not even milli-scale!

  6. Re:Sizes by ya+really · · Score: 4, Informative

    As an American physics student, I'm insulted :p, but this is generally correct for most Americans. Hooray, lets count in base 12 or base 16 or "base whatever feels nice." Base 10 you say? No way that could ever be easier.

    Though I'd like to add at least we stick with a system, the Brits seem to have an identity crisis where they cant seem to decide if they like the Imperial System or Metric. Pint glasses, miles per hour, liters, pounds (and not the monetary kind), etc etc. Now that's pretty crazy.

  7. ... reading TFA makes better jokes by troll8901 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You, Sir, have obviously read TFA, and thus is far superior to the rest of Slash... I mean, Collective.

    You will be assimilated to serve as a bridge between the hairless apes and the overlords.

    You will be named "Rublecutus of Borg".