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Ring-bodied, light-powered robot makes its way up tracks like a cable car

Cable cars are certainly handy for transporting cargo up steep mountain slopes, but what if you want to do the same sort of thing on a much smaller scale? Well, you could try using a tiny new light-powered robot, which is cable of carrying items up thin mid-air tracks.

Prof. Jie Yin and colleagues at North Carolina State University, the "robot" is actually just a looped ribbon of light-sensitive liquid crystal elastomer. The bots could also make their way over track obstacles such as knots, climb slopes as steep as 80 degrees, and carry cargo over 12 times their own weight. An experienced freelance writer, he previously obtained an English BA from the University of Saskatchewan, then spent over 20 years working in various markets as a television reporter, producer and news videographer.

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