大约在四年前,东京大学的机械工程师下山德就曾尝试设计可灵活自主运动的微型机械,例如,用它来检查工业管道中出现的故障。但他很快认识到这是在白白浪费时间,因为大自然早已造就了完美的此类微机械——昆虫。 昆虫能比任何一种机械装置都灵活地运动,那么为什么不能修改昆虫的神经系统使它能按照我们发出的指令行动,从而制造出新型的微机械呢? About four years ago, Schaumburger, a mechanical engineer at the University of Tokyo, had tried to design micromechanical machines that could be flexibly and autonomously moved, for example, to check for faults in industrial pipes. But he soon realized that it was a waste of time because Nature had already created the perfect micro-machine of this kind - insects. Insects can move more flexibly than any mechanical device, so why can not the insect’s nervous system be modified to act in accordance with the instructions we sent to create a new type of micromachine?