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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Claws like a tardigrade’s give swimming microrobots a grip

Miniature robots can cling to blood-vessel walls when kitted out with claws inspired by the water bear’s pincers.
Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a Ramazzottius kretschmanni water bear or tardigrade.

The animals called tardigrades use their claws to grip underwater vegetation, inspiring a clawed microrobot. Credit: Eye Of Science/SPL

Scientists have equipped swimming microrobots with tardigrade-inspired claws and a coat similar to a red blood cell’s membrane, enhancing the devices’ suitability for precision medicine1.

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Nature 617, 440 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01541-9

References

  1. Li, T. et al. Sci. Adv. 9, eadg4501 (2023).

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