TEDnesday Talks: "Why I Make Robots The Size Of A Grain Of Rice"

What does one do with a tiiiiiiny robot?

At Student Edge, we like to keep ourselves up to date with all the latest innovative ideas in the world of technology, education and design. We also love puns. So, over Wednesday lunch, we watch TED talks. Thus: TEDnesday.

This week, we watched Dr. Sarah Bergbreiter, a Microroboticist and Associate Professor of the Maryland Microrobotics Laboratory at the University of Maryland, speak on her work in developing tiiiiiiny robots. (This was recorded in November of 2014.)

Check it out!

Let's talk, TED.

Sarah gives us an interesting look into the challenges of creating robots at such a tiny scale. It's fascinating to see the different methods for creating locomotion that just aren't feasible on larger sized robots. (Rockets? What?)

The question I was left with after watching this talk was, "Wait, why are you building tiny robots again?" While Sarah does briefly touch on the potential application of tiny robots (like searching through rubble during disasters, checking bridge structural integrity, performing operations from within the bloodstream, or building apartments) not much detail is given.

Also, no reason is given as to why the job of checking bridges or building apartment buildings couldn't be done just as easily using large robots... or people. It just would have been interesting to hear more about the applicability, given that the name of the talk was "Why I build robots the size of a grain of rice". Perhaps "How we're building robots..." would have been more accurate.

Naming-controversy aside, some interesting ideas were raised by Dr. Bergbreiter. The notion of having multiple tiny robots working together and communicating with each other is intriguing and the ways that robotics are imitating bugs definitely make this worth the watch. All in all, a fascinating insight into tiny-scale robotics - if you're into that kind of thing, with the door left wide open for the question...

If we could master the science of building tiiiiiny robots, what applications could they have. Let us know in the comments section below!