Winged Microchip

In News 

• Recently, Northwestern University engineers have created an electronic microchip with the capability of flight. 

About

• The new flying microchip(micro flier) is about the size of a grain of sand and much smaller than a regular-sized ant.
•  It operates without a motor or engine, catching flight through wind via a propeller-like helicopter.
• The micro flier structures are built in a way where they can be packed with miniaturized technology, including sensors, power sources, antennas for wireless communication and memory data. 
• This micro flier is described as the “smallest-ever human-made flying structure”. 

                                                 Image Courtesy: IE

• Significance:  
  • To add a winged flight to small-scale electronic systems, with the idea that these capabilities would allow researchers to distribute highly functional, miniaturized electronic devices to sense the environment for contamination monitoring, population surveillance or disease tracking,

Source: IE