Oliver Schmidt and colleagues at the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences in Dresden, Germany, combined individual sperm cells with tiny magnetic metal tubes to create the first sperm-based biobots.

To create the spermbots, the team made microtubes 50 microns long, by 5 to 8 microns in diameter from iron and titanium nanoparticles. They added the tubes to a fluid containing thawed bull sperm. Because one end of each tube was slightly narrower than the other, sperm that swam into the wider end become trapped, headfirst, with their flagella still free.

To control the orientation of the microtubes, the team used external magnetic fields. It works much as a compass needle aligns with Earth’s magnetic field. This enabled the team to control the direction in which the sperm swam.

Now, if you can’t think of half a dozen use for robotic bull sperm in five minutes or so, you just aren’t trying hard enough.

Via New Scientist.