Page 30 - Winter 2026

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Industry Newss Industry News
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NEW FORM OF

GRAPHENE EXHIBITS DEVELOPMENTS

SUPERCONDUCTIVITY IN ROBOTICS

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Ordinary superconductors allow a current to flow World’s smallest programmable These reduced power consumption by a factor of a
Technology (MIT) have discovered that a special through them with no resistance, but only at very Autonomous Robots thousand, whilst condensing what traditionally would
form of graphene, produced by stacking ultra-thin low temperatures, that is to say cryogenically. This require many instructions for propulsion control
Researchers at Penn University’s School of
layers of carbon at a specific angle, can conduct necessitates powerful cooling systems typically into one instruction, miniaturised the length of the
Engineering and Applied Science, in collaboration
electricity in a completely new way without wasting deploying liquid helium or liquid nitrogen, making them program so that it fitted neatly into the robot’s tiny
with Michigan University, have created what
any energy. difficult to use other than in very specialised settings. memory space.
is believed to be the world’s smallest fully
Studies of superconductivity typically involve programmable autonomous robots: microscopic Mark Miskin, Assistant Professor in Electrical and
measurement of the superconducting gap to swimming machines that can independently sense Systems Engineering at Penn University, states:
determine how stable the superconducting state is, and respond to their surroundings. Each one costs a “ Building robots that operate at sizes below one
and in the MIT case an experimental platform was penny and has an operating time of several months. millimetre is incredibly difficult. If you’re small
constructed that combined the two well-established
Each robot measures 200 x 300 x 500 micrometres, enough, pushing on water is like pushing through
techniques of tunnelling spectroscopy, which examines
smaller than a grain of salt, and can monitor the tar. Very tiny arms and legs are easy to break.
how electrons ‘tunnel’ through barriers, and electrical
health of individual body cells as well as realise They’re also very hard to build.
transport, which measures resistance as current flows.
applications in the manufacture of microscale
This method enabled clearer visibility of the MATTG We’ve shown that you can put a brain, a sensor
devices.
superconducting gap and confirmed that it was and a motor into something almost too small to
present only when the material had zero resistance. Powered by light and incorporating microscopic see, and have it survive and work for months. Once
computers, the robots can be programmed to move you have that foundation, you can layer on all kinds
if intelligence and functionality. It opens the door to
in complex patterns, and adjust their paths according
Analysis showed that whilst ordinary superconductors to local temperatures. a whole new future for robotics at the microscale”.
exhibited a flat shape, the MATTG had a sharp
Designing these entities was not easy. Surface-area
V-shaped profile, signalling that the material was
dependent forces such as drag and viscosity replace
indeed an unconventional superconductor.
gravity and inertia as the dominant forces, meaning
In superconductors electrons move in pairs, known as that conventional approaches to robotic movement
The phenomenon, which derives from the material’s
Cooper Pairs, rather than individually. The above results no longer apply. A new propulsion system had to be
superconductivity, potentially allows for the
suggested that the electrons were pairing in a different designed such that it would work with the unique
construction of super-efficient power systems and
way to that normally expected. Now, scientists can physical forces of the microscopic world. Unlike with
faster computers.
observe how superconductivity emerges in real-time conventional designs, the robots generate an electric
In ordinary superconductors, electrons pair up through with a direct view of how electrons pair and interact field that nudges ions into the surrounding solution,
vibrations in the atomic lattice, but in this ‘magic- with other quantum states, opening the door to the which in turn push nearby water molecules. Adjusting
angle twisted tri-layer graphene’ , referred to as MATTG, design of superconductors that operate under normal the field enables the robots to move in complex
the pairs are apparently bound together a lot more conditions. patterns and travel in coordinated groups at up to
tightly, and by studying this it is hoped that so-called one body length per second.
Reference: Miles, S., ‘Unconventional Superconductivity in Magic-
‘unconventional superconductivity’ will enable the angle Graphene’, Electronic Specifier, 20th. November.
The core electronics problem was power, but the
design of materials that work at higher temperatures,
team at Michigan had the answer with the creation
creating new possibilities for quantum computing and
of tiny circuits running at extremely low voltages.
advanced sensors.
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