Microbots autonomously coordinate sub-nW movements using electronic pulses

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/12/micromachines-autonomously-coordinate-using-electronic-pulses

"complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor oscillators, exchanging electronic pulses until entire system aligned with fastest oscillator... each bot features 7 nm thick bending paddle actuator... pulsed-coupling adjusts neighboring machines' timing, aligning their movements without the need for centralized control... synchronized arrays of up to 16 bots in both linear and 2D, scalable to larger networks... mimics biology, nature... drug delivery, chemical mixing, environmental remediation, collaborative construction”