Microrobots deployed inside a body were once science fiction and only imagined in the movies. Now they could one day deliver life-saving medications to hard-to-reach places throughout the body.

A team of engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder has designed a new class of nanobots —tiny, self-propelled robots that can zip through a body at incredible speeds.

“Medical microrobots are, essentially, microscale devices,” Wyatt Shields Iv with the University of Colorado Boulder said. “We're talking devices five to 10 times thinner than the human hair."

The bots are made out of polymer materials that are biocompatible, using a technology similar to 3D printing.

They look like small rockets with three tiny fins.

“And the result is that these robots move really fast,” Shields said. “…That would be equivalent to a six-foot-tall person running 400 miles per hour."

Although there's still more testing to do, this work could one day turn what was once science fiction into science that changes the world.

Currently, the microbots leave the body through the urine. The team is working to make them completely biodegradable, so they will dissolve inside the body after releasing the medication.

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