India, April 16 -- When a fruit fly buzzes across your kitchen, you probably don't see a sophisticated robot. But to researchers at Harvard University's Rowland Institute, this tiny insect represents the future of microrobotics.

In a study published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers led by Aleksandr Rayshubskiy demonstrated that the common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) can be controlled as a "living microrobot" with no motors, electronics, or batteries required.

Building useful robots at microscale has always been challenging. Motors are fragile, batteries don't last, and fitting in enough computing power for navigation is nearly impossible. Instead of struggling with these limitations,...