Singapore, May 28 -- Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have developed a tiny seed-sized robot that can navigate across soft and uneven surfaces to perform five surgical functions wirelessly, paving the way for developing robots to make surgeries and medical treatments more precise.

The miniature robot, measuring just 4.4 mm in length and controlled by weak magnetic fields, can move, cut biological tissues, release drugs, grip and store tissue samples, or generate heat remotely at any one time. It takes under a second to switch between these functions.

Using magnetic coils in the laboratory to remotely control the robot, the team was able to make the robot deploy different tools and perform different functions, such ...