Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
From scaling to error correction, numerous problems remain to be addressed before a practical quantum computer can be built, but researchers continue to find the necessary solutions.
Enhancing the generality of multi-robot systems is critical for their deployment in open-world applications. Achieving this will require the development of general collective intelligence.
Biohybrid robots, which rely on living muscles to drive force generation, could be of use in applications ranging from microsurgery to unmanned exploration. But the development of untethered and autonomous machines will require the integration of onboard electronics for sensing, control and power.
Microscopic robots (microrobots) with integrated electronic chips have a range of potential medical, environmental and industrial applications. However, such systems have only recently become mass-producible, using either a body-first or a brain-first approach to fabrication.
Ingestible electronic devices could transform gastrointestinal medicine by combining diagnostic and therapeutic functions into a single miniature device. But challenges related to device miniaturization, power-efficient integrated circuit design and data security remain to be addressed.
Maheera Abdul Ghani, winner of the 2025 Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science and CEO of Cambridge Dielectrix, tells Nature Electronics about her outreach work with WinSci Pakistan and the challenges of developing dielectric technology for two-dimensional semiconductors.
