Quick Summary
• Leiden Researchers 3D Print Brainless Microrobots That Swim and Dodge Obstacles Like Living Animals March 31
Additional Context
Researchers at Leiden University have created 3D-printed microrobots just tens of micrometres long that can swim, sense their surroundings, and steer around obstacles without any sensors, software, or external control. The findings were published March 27, 2026 in PNAS.
Professor Daniela Kraft and researcher Mengshi Wei designed the robots as flexible, chain-like structures made up of connected segments, each element measuring just 5 micrometres across, with bar-joints as thin as 0.5 micrometres. To put that in context, a human hair runs 70 to 100 micrometres thick. The structures were printed on a Nanoscribe 3D microprinter, which the team notes is printing at the very edge of what’s technically possible.
The robots’ behavior emerges entirely from their shape. When an electric field is