Tiny robots have a lot of use, such as being small enough where they can swim around in our bodies to fight illness, or for infiltration where they are too small to be detected. However the problem with small robots is how do you power them? While tiny batteries are one way to go about it, batteries themselves do pose a problem, such as potentially exploding.

This is clearly not ideal when a robot is inside your body, but thanks to researchers at at Seoul National University in South Korea, they have created a tiny robot that can be powered by moisture. Details about the robot have been published in the journal Science Robotics (via The Verge) which describes a robot that can crawl and wriggle back and forth like a snake to help it move.

The idea for these tiny robots is that they could potentially be used to deliver drugs onto human skin. According to the researchers, the inspiration for the robots came from plants where could change shape and size by absorbing water from the ground and air. Given that there is pretty much moisture in the air around us, this means that the robots can find power sources easily.

Plus it is not toxic and there is no danger of batteries exploding or catching on fire. Of course when exactly these robots will be going into production and see commercial use remains to be seen, but it’s an interesting development all the same.

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