Untethered small-scale (milli-, micro-, and nano-) soft robots promise minimally invasive and targeted medical procedures in tiny, flooded, and confined environments like inside the human body. Despite such potentials, small-scale robots have not yet found their way to real-world applications. This can be mainly attributed to the fundamental and technical challenges in the fabrication, powering, navigation, imaging, and closed-loop control of robots at submillimiter scales. Pertinent to this Account, the selection of building block materials of small-scale robots also poses a challenge that is directly related to their fabrication and function.

中文翻译：

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从各向异性分子和颗粒到小型致动器和机器人：聚合液晶简介


不受束缚的小型（毫米、微米和纳米）软机器人有望在微小、洪水和密闭环境（如人体内部）中提供微创和有针对性的医疗程序。尽管具有这些潜力，但小型机器人尚未进入现实世界的应用。这主要归因于亚毫米级机器人的制造、供电、导航、成像和闭环控制方面的基本和技术挑战。与此账户相关的是，小型机器人的构建块材料的选择也构成了与它们的制造和功能直接相关的挑战。