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Microbots Deliver Medical Payload In Living Creature For the First Time

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 21, 2015 @04:45AM from the unless-you-count-star-trek dept.

Zothecula writes: Researchers working at the University of California, San Diego have claimed a world first in proving that artificial, microscopic machines can travel inside a living creature and deliver their medicinal load without any detrimental effects. Using micro-motor powered robots propelled by gas bubbles made from a reaction with the contents of the stomach in which they were deposited, these miniature machines have been successfully deployed in the body of a live mouse.

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Really?! by Anonymous Coward · 2015-01-21 05:23 · Score: 3, Insightful

Now this is pretty amazing, but...
they are no more 'robots' than early Chinese fireworks were space probes. No guidance, no programming, just very clever manufacturing and good chemistry. Micro-motors are a big deal, but these aren't robots by any stretch.