Microbiorobotics, 2nd Edition

Motivation for microbiorobotics

For much of the history of robotics, research has focused on systems that have some relation in operational capability or length scale to humans. From the perspective of the layman, the very definition of robot is most often closely tied to the subclass of robotics relating to humanoids. Perhaps this isn't particularly surprising, since the methods of machining and the tools that we first developed are correlated with our ability to easily observe and manipulate objects at macroscopic length scales. That is, with the naked eye we can easily see objects down to the millimeter, and our hands are not adept at working with smaller objects. It is also not surprising that we have developed strong capabilities at ...