Have you ever wondered how powerful magnets and magnetic fields can be? There are various types of magnets; permanent magnets (like fridge magnets), temporary magnets (magnetized paperclips), and electromagnets (speakers). I’m sure you have played with one, or all three.
But I bet you never realized how precisely you could magnetize something to the point that you could control it remotely.
A magnet is the result of particles in an object which are arranged in a north/south orientation and emit a magnetic field. What the scientists have done is arrange these particles in a specific orientation (with various orientations within the same object) and then locking that orientation in place. Once the particles are locked in place with the specified magnetic field orientation, they can control the behavior of the object by applying a magnetic field to it. This works very similarly to the way you are able to attract or repel magnets using another magnet (or magnetic field), but with a level of accuracy and precision you never imagined.
The result is an object about 1/16″ (2mm) which you can manipulate remotely and without wires. With a robot that small the possibilities are limitless; like non-invasive medical procedures, tools for building even smaller robots, self-healing devices, etc.
What would you do with such a robot?
