Swarm of Bacteria Builds Tiny Pyramid

A robotic micro-assembly process relies on several thousand flagellated bacteria acting as micro-workers to build a pyramidal structure. Work presented at IROS ‘09 by Sylvain Martel and Mahmood Mohammadi from the NanoRobotics Laboratory, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada. For more robot news, visit spectrum.ieee.org

25 Responses to “Swarm of Bacteria Builds Tiny Pyramid”

1. yoyoj3d1 says:

   April 25, 2010 at 10:40 am

   This supports the notion that vastly superior aliens found our pro-human ancestors and manipulated them into building the pyramids.
   Le sigh… I <3 alien-astronaut theory.
2. KTCutUp says:

   April 25, 2010 at 10:58 am

   @nomel23 i wAnnA sEe tHaT viDeO!
3. KTCutUp says:

   April 25, 2010 at 11:49 am

   @nomel23 i wAnnA sEe tHaT viDeO!
4. FreePlay says:

   April 25, 2010 at 12:08 pm

   @TOAFN cancer is not a single disease. it is hundreds of diseases with the same effect. there CANNOT be a SINGLE cure for all cancers.
5. FreePlay says:

   April 25, 2010 at 12:52 pm

   @mtf61291 Fuck YEAH, science!!
6. madhatter060 says:

   April 25, 2010 at 1:38 pm

   @eyesonlyfd i think that is the full pyramid
7. menosmalus says:

   April 25, 2010 at 1:53 pm

   Usando bacterias «esclavas» para construir pirámides:
   La construcción de la pirámide escalonada usando 5000 bacterias controladas por ordenador como fuerza obrera comienza más o menos a partir del primer minuto del vídeo.
8. eyesonlyfd says:

   April 25, 2010 at 2:07 pm

   where can I see the ending (full pyramid)?
9. Savaril says:

   April 25, 2010 at 2:20 pm

   @nlpayne4

   no we know how the pyramids were built.
10. ecyor0 says:

    April 25, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    Sweet bejeebus… nano-bionics!
11. ArtDamage911 says:

    April 25, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    @IGoByJAC Very true
12. whoslayedgoliath says:

    April 25, 2010 at 4:48 pm

    The future of medicine is right here.
13. SniperF0x says:

    April 25, 2010 at 4:58 pm

    absolutely awesome!
14. netenute says:

    April 25, 2010 at 5:21 pm

    If only the Egyptians had though of this I wouldn’t be going to Seder dinner tonight =P
15. Protzosch says:

    April 25, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    Das sieht ja aber aus wie Kraut und Rüben. Sind das etwa polnische Bakterien?
16. nlpayne4 says:

    April 25, 2010 at 6:04 pm

    …and still they don’t know how the pyramids were built…can’t even find the pyramid building gene…lol
17. elboulegou says:

    April 25, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    esto simplemente es fenomenal!!!
18. zerfsun says:

    April 25, 2010 at 6:51 pm

    it’s burning sand
19. D0g63rt says:

    April 25, 2010 at 7:01 pm

    What? Now there’s aliens?! Warglblarg!!
20. nomel23 says:

    April 25, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    …think of it as guiding a swarm of squirrels to bump into beach balls, then it doesn’t seem so alien.
21. RachelBartlett says:

    April 25, 2010 at 8:18 pm

    Totally wrong on cancer. Cancer cures are available, and they are dirt cheap.

    Have a look into vitamin B17, for instance.
    Also: “Cancer deaths ‘could be halved’ by vitamin D” — vitamin D you get from exposure to the sun. Of course big pharma wouldn’t make any profits from that, so this kind of knowledge is surpressed.

    And that is just two cures. There are lots of others.
22. Rocket7910 says:

    April 25, 2010 at 9:02 pm

    it really must be difficult to find good help these days.
23. Seigu007 says:

    April 25, 2010 at 9:42 pm

    its amazing what humans can create in this 21st century. Its alien, practically.
24. zhimingmo says:

    April 25, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    Ahhhhhh, black smoke from LOST got loose…..
25. fuby0 says:

    April 25, 2010 at 10:05 pm

    hmm.. black smoke from lost explained