A tiny robot has been invented using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology that can crawl through your veins, telling doctors whether you have a blockage or cancer.  The tiny robot, theoretically, could treat the damage as well.

The little robot – with a diameter of just one millimeter – has neither engine nor onboard controls, instead being propelled forward by a magnetic field wielded on it from outside the patient’s body.

A controller can move the little crawly creature in increments, with its speed of up to nine millimeters a second regulated by varying external magnetic field frequencies. Outside control also means the robot can be made to work for an unlimited amount of time, rather than suddenly – not to mention inconveniently – keeling over to die of battery failure in the middle of a medical procedure.

In a creepy twist, it has been reveiled that the tiny robot can crawl through human veins and arteries using its outstretched arms that grip the vessel walls.  Think about that the next time your doctor want to insert something into you.