European micro robots win at IEEE games

Swiss and French micro robots walked away with gold at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Alaska this week.

In the Mobile Micro robotics test, six teams from Canada, Europe and the United States pitted sub-mm machines beside each other in three tests a 2mm dash an assembly task inserting pegs into designated holes and a freestyle contest.

In the 2mm dash, the microbot from Carnegie Mellon University broke the world record held by Switzerland's ETH Zurich with an average time of 78ms. The triumph was short-lived as, less than an hour later the French team shattered the mark with an average time of 32ms.

ETH Zurich was the champion in the assembly event with a perfect 12, steering 12 500µm pegs into holes at the edge of its 2mm arena. Runner-up was Carnegie Mellon whose microbot placed four pegs of nine. ETH Zurich's robot also captured the freestyle event, astonishing viewers with its unique ability to man oeuvre in three dimensions within its water-packed environment.