Robot micro tugs

Engineers from Stanford University have created miniature robots named "MicroTugs" capable of pulling and lifting objects more than 100 times their own weight. The strongest of the bots weighs just 12 grams but can pull objects 2,000 times heavier than itself, reports the New Scientist. This is the equivalent of a human dragging a blue whale, says David Christensen, an engineer from the lab that created the robots.

Another of the robots weighs just 9 grams but can climb up vertical walls carrying objects heavier than a kilogram — the equivalent of a human hoisting an elephant up the side of a building. Even the smallest of the bots — a miniature beast of burden that weighs 20 milligrams and was assembled under a microscope with a pair of tweezers — can pull objects 25 times its own weight.