Walking crystals may lead to new field of crystal robotics

Researchers have demonstrated that tiny micrometer-sized crystals--just barely visible to the human eye--can "walk" inchworm-style across the slide of a microscope. Other crystals are capable of different modes of locomotion such as rolling, flipping, bending, twisting, and jumping. In the future, these moving crystals may open the doors to the development of crystal-based robots.