Ideas worth spreading

Tiny robots with giant potential

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Paul McEuen and Marc Miskin |

TED@NAS

• November 2019

Take a trip down the microworld as roboticists Paul McEuen and Marc Miskin explain how they design and mass-produce microrobots the size of a single cell, powered by atomically thin legs -- and show how these machines could one day be "piloted" to battle crop diseases or study your brain at the level of individual neurons.

Take a trip down the microworld as roboticists Paul McEuen and Marc Miskin explain how they design and mass-produce microrobots the size of a single cell, powered by atomically thin legs -- and show how these machines could one day be "piloted" to battle crop diseases or study your brain at the level of individual neurons.

Get a look at nano up-close. Visit a "fab," one of 16 state-of-the-art cleanroom facilities across the country, to see some of the most remarkable pieces of technology ever constructed.

About the speakers

Paul McEuen

See speaker profile

Paul McEuen's research explores the nanoscale world.

Marc Miskin

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Marc Miskin works on the design and fabrication of cell-sized robots.

Richard Feynman | The annual meeting of the American Physical Society at the California Institute of Technology, 1959 | Watch

"Richard Feynman 'Tiny Machines' Nanotechnology Lecture - aka 'There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom'"

The physicist Richard Feynman's speech "There's plenty of Room at the Bottom" helped launch the revolution in micro (and later nano) scale devices and systems. He was so far ahead of his time that he could give essentially the same speech in 1984 and have it still be timely.

New Mind | YouTube, 2019 | Watch

"The World Of Microscopic Machines"

This video gives a techy/nerdy introduction to the practical uses of microelectomechanical systems, or MEMs, with applications from airbag sensors to inkjet printers. These devices are the evolutionary precursors to the micro-robots in our talk.

Paul McEuen | Penguin Random House / The Dial Press, 2011 | Book

Science imitates art. This is a science thriller Paul wrote almost a decade ago. It had tiny robots in it long before his research had gone that way.

Paul McEuen | Daedalus, 2012 | Article

"Small Machines"

In 2012, Paul wrote a perspective piece about the past, present and future of nano. It lays out a broad view of how we can build tiny machinery by stealing from semiconductor technology, hacking biology, or both.

Isaac Asimov | Bantam, 1988 | Book

Fantastic Voyage

A classic of the sci-fi genre: a submarine and its crew get miniaturized and injected into the body of a scientist to perform micro-brain surgery. We aspire to one day build a nano-submarine comparable to the Proteus.

| Explore

Build a microscope

Marc and Paul both have fond childhood memories of staring into the microverse. Today, it's never been easier to start exploring the world of the small. With a smartphone, 10 dollars and a little bit of time, you can actually build a pretty decent microscope. Go for a 375x magnification microscope and start watching paramecia or even 1000x. Or, if you're old school, there's always Mr. Wizard's way.

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About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

Read more about the TED Institute

Get a look at nano up-close. Visit a "fab," one of 16 state-of-the-art cleanroom facilities across the country, to see some of the most remarkable pieces of technology ever constructed.