From Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, the world’s smallest, “free-roving” robot. The microbot is just 1cm tall, rolls around on two track wheels, has 8K of onboard memory, and is powered by three watch batteries.
[F]uture versions could be outfitted with anything from chemical sniffers to a miniaturized camera or microphone. Lightweight, mobile and small enough to be virtually invisible, specialized microbots may eventually perform tasks like searching for bombs. They could even be pressed into duty as mechanical spies that wait until their target opens his safe to take out secret papers, then climb up behind him to quickly snap a photo before scurrying back to their insect-size hiding place.
