Swiss and French microrobots walked away with gold at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Alaska this week.
In the Mobile Microrobotics Challenge, six teams from Canada, Europe and the United States pitted sub-mm machines against each other in three tests: a 2mm dash; an assembly task inserting pegs into designated holes; and a freestyle competition.
In the 2mm dash, the microbot from Carnegie Mellon University broke the world record held by Switzerland's ETH Zurich (set at an earlier nanosoccer competition) with an average time of 78ms.
The achievement was short-lived as, less than an hour later, the French team (representing two French research agencies: the FEMTO-ST Institute and the Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique) shattered the mark with an average time of 32ms.
ETH Zurich was the champion in the assembly event with a perfect 12, steering 12 500µm pegs into holes at the edge of its 2mm arena.
Runner-up was Carnegie Mellon whose microbot placed four pegs of nine.
ETH Zurich's robot also captured the freestyle event, amazing spectators with its unprecedented ability to manoeuvre in three dimensions within its water-filled environment.
In one demonstration, the Swiss machine swam over the edge its arena and pushed out the pegs it had earlier inserted.
Taking second freestyle place the Carnegie Mellon team, demonstrating how three microbots could be combined into a single system and then disassembled again into separate units.
Third place in the event went to the microbot from the Stevens Institute of Technology.
The competition, and the earlier nanosoccer, was hosted the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in cooperation with IEEE and Georgia Tech.
Highlights are on this excellent microrobotics video.