Microbots Made of Bubbles Are Controlled By Lasers

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the University of Hawaii have turned bubbles of gas into non-mechanical 'microbots' that they propel and steer with a laser. The laser heats up specific areas of the fluid that the bubble are in, and temperature gradients push the fluid towards the hot area, moving the bubble along. By using an array of lasers, the researchers can control the speed and direction of multiple bubble bots independently; this capability is not possible with other types of microbots, such as those controlled by a magnetic field, which affects all robots simultaneously. The University of Hawaii researchers hope their non-mechanical microbots can be used to assemble and manipulate microscopic structures, including live cells. In one experiment, they used the bubble bots to position 100-m-diameter glass beads to form the letters 'UH.'"

Comments

Big bubbles...

[Nethemas the Great]

Moving 100m bubbles around with lasers. That's pretty impressive...

Re:Big bubbles...

[linear a]

Hope they aren't breaking any strategic weapons treaties with those oversized lasers.

Re:Big bubbles...

[Dahamma]

I hope they aren't breaking any strategic weapons treaties with those beads!

You know China is just going to come up with a 150m bead, and the US will have to respond. Pretty soon it's going to be one Mardi Gras mistake away from world destruction.

100-m-diameter glass beads?

[PaulBu]

I think that a chunk of glass about 30 stories high can be called a "bead"... Losely... ;-)

Or, I think that letter \mu got lost while this story was flowing through ether, more likely!

Paul B.

Re:100-m-diameter glass beads?

[Dunbal]

Er, no. M = mega. m = meter. Micron usually uses the abbreviation (mu, which slashdot refuses to print), and where you can't use mu for some reason some texts cheat by using the letter u. You, however, are dead wrong..

Microbots?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice results, but why allude to the bubbles as robots (microbots)?

Re:Microbots?

[linear a]

Because entitling it "moving microbubbles with light" wouldn't get many hits.

Re:Microbots?

[nurb432]

Marketing has to use buzzwords, even if they dont apply.

Re:I hope the glass beads are not 100 meters in si

[Beardo the Bearded]

if( fashion joke )
{
    whoosh( Beardo );
}
else
{
    nanometers = 10^-9;
    micrometer = 10^-6;
    micron = micrometer;
}

Re:Sharks

[amicusNYCL]

I'm wondering where the point is when a bubble all of a sudden becomes a robot.

Re:Sharks

[amicusNYCL]

If their bubbles can manipulate physical objects according to a program then its a robot.

The bubble doesn't manipulate anything, the bubble doesn't execute software or follow a program. It's a bubble. It's a space filled with some gas suspended inside a liquid. The laser heats the liquid, the liquid moves, and the bubble moves with the liquid. If I throw a ball, and that ball hits something, say a "physical object", and it "manipulates" that object, is the ball now a robot?

Re:Sharks

[FunkDup]

The bubble doesn't manipulate anything

Nooope. From TFA: "This level of control allows for very fine manipulation of small objects, and the picture below shows how a bubble robot has pushed glass beads around to form the letters "UH"

the bubble doesn't execute software or follow a program.

I think it's safe to assume those lasers are computer controlled, given they are using the term "robot" and some other obvious issues. Having the computing and control infrastructure external to the manipulator doesn't stop it from being a robot, it just becomes a remote controlled robot!

If I throw a ball, and that ball hits something, say a "physical object", and it "manipulates" that object, is the ball now a robot?

Think outside the bubble!