Robotics goes micro-scale

Press release issued: 16 April 2014 The development of light-driven 'micro-robots' that can autonomously investigate and manipulate the nano-scale environment in a microscope comes a step closer, thanks to new research from the University of Bristol. Such devices could be used for high-resolution imaging, allowing the investigation of delicate biological samples such as cells in new ways. Dr David Phillips , Professor Mervyn Miles and Dr Stephen Simpson of Bristol's School of Physics , and colleagues, aim to develop such micro-robots and control them using a technology known as 'optical tweezers'. In a paper published today , they investigate how optical tweezers can be used to manipulate nanofabricated structures to generate high-resolution images. Optical tweezers use light to move microscopic objects such as individual cells or particles 1,000 times smaller than the width of human hair. When light reflects from a surface, or bends as it travels into a transparent material, it exerts a force on the object with which it has interacted. This force is very small, so we do not normally notice it in everyday life.