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Microrobots in food science and technology

Nature Food volume 6, pages 1124–1132 (2025) Cite this article

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Abstract

The global food supply chain is highly susceptible to spoilage and contamination risks, posing severe health hazards to consumers. This creates the need for preservation and safety-monitoring methods to reduce the exposure of both industries and consumers to these risks. Recent innovations using functional materials to construct nano- and microrobots of different shapes and sizes show substantial improvements in optimizing various food processes. Here we review the benefits of applying autonomous functional microrobotics to food science and technology, focusing on applications in food safety control, preservation and processing. We identify current limitations specific to each application and general constraints that must be overcome to transition from proof of concept to real-world implementation in the food industry.

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Fig. 1: Schematics of microrobot functionalities and built-in physical intelligence.
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Fig. 2: Self-propelled microrobots for food safety control applications.
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Fig. 3: Microrobots for food preservation applications.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
Fig. 4: Microrobots for food-processing applications.
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Acknowledgements

M.P. acknowledges the financial support of the ERDF/ESF project TECHSCALE (no. CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004587). C.C.M.-M. was co-funded by the European Union under the REFRESH – Research Excellence For REgion Sustainability and High-tech Industries project number CZ.10.03.01/00/22_003/0000048 via the Operational Programme Just Transition. R.M.-H. thanks the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) for funding project number 22-04132I.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Future Energy and Innovation Laboratory, Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology (CEITEC-BUT), Brno, Czech Republic

    Roberto Maria-Hormigos & Martin Pumera

  2. Advanced Nanorobots and Multiscale Robotics Lab, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic

    Carmen C. Mayorga-Martinez & Martin Pumera

  3. School of Biomedical Engineering, Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (UPC), Prolongación Primavera, Lima, Peru

    Carmen C. Mayorga-Martinez

  4. Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Martin Pumera

  5. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

    Martin Pumera

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  1. Roberto Maria-Hormigos
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  2. Carmen C. Mayorga-Martinez
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All authors contributed to the writing of the paper. All authors have approved the final version of the paper. M.P. originated the idea of the paper and provided direction. R.M.-H. wrote the initial draft, with help from other co-authors. C.C.M.-M. and M.P. redesigned the original draft.

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Correspondence to Martin Pumera.

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Maria-Hormigos, R., Mayorga-Martinez, C.C. & Pumera, M. Microrobots in food science and technology. Nat Food 6, 1124–1132 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01261-5

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