Miniaturized Robotics: The Smallest Camera Operator Bot Pays Tribute to David Bowie

Robotics and 3D printing pave the way for future methodologies in many industries, but they can also be used for original artistic projects, including technological challenges. Imagine a film studio smaller than the size of your finger, an actor whose height is smaller than the thickness of your fingernail, and a camera using electrons instead of photons: these are the ingredients of the innovative film Stardust Odyssey. Several years of development were necessary to propose highprecision miniaturized robots able to position 3D-printed microfigurines in a scanning electronic microscope (SEM) to produce the film, which was released on 27 November 2019. This original film is available online [1]-[3]. The film, which pays tribute to David Bowie, holds the Guinness world record for the smallest 3D stop-motion animation character in the world [5].