A team of researchers at MIT has added a new type of robot to the university’s long list of robots. This new origami robot will have range of medical applications and can even carry twice its own weight, said researchers.

According to IEEE Spectrum, the origami robot was demonstrated at the ICRA 2015 in Seattle. The developers have written a paper to along with the invention called ‘An Untethered Miniature Origami Robot hat Self-folds, walks, Swims, and Degrades’.

The authors of the paper, Shuhei Mivashita, Steven Guitron, Marvin Ludersdorfer, Cynthia R. Sung, and Daniela Rus, clearly showcased how the small mechanism developed by their team can automatically fold itself into a shape and can even carry out simple tasks.

This is not the first time that an origami robot has been designed, but the distinct feature about this origami robot is that it is so far the tiniest robot.

The technology used in this robot is remarkably simple, said its makers. They also said that the robot is little more than a sheet of PVC pipe with a magnet inside. The magnet inside the robot is controlled through a nearby magnetic field that causes the origami robot to vibrate.

These vibrations manipulate the robot to take certain actions starting from climbing to digging. The only drawback of the origami robot is that the magnet is controlled externally, which means that there is no motor within the machine itself, said experts.

According to Digital Trends, the developers hope to create new versions of the origami robot that are much smaller and contain sensors.