A Tiny Robot Spider Might Soon Perform Micro-Surgery

The future in micro surgery might be a tiny robot spider. Harvard and Boston university researchers have created a robot spider inspired by the micro Australian peacock spider. It has micrometre-scale features and it is less than an inch long.

Researchers hope that it can perform intricate surgeries because of its flexibility and its body shaping motion.  The spider has the ability to manipulate and interact with the most delicate tissues, which means it would be able to manoeuvre through the veins, arteries and nerves.

The robot spider is just the beginning according to author Tommaso Ranzani. “This device is proof of concept of the manufacturing process.”

He continues, “we believe it will pave the way to a new generation of soft micro robots that can exploit their small scale, and deformable and resilient bodies, to explore highly unstructured and complex environments.”