Engineers from the Biomimetrics and Dexterous Manipulation Laboratory at Stanford Univ. unveiled a new project yesterday. The center specializes in developing robotic creations that imitate actions found in nature like wall-climbing geckos.

The team’s newest experiment is a series of six micro-robots that operate in a manner akin to ants, which can move objects twice their size when working together.

A counterintuitive approach was adopted by the researchers. They chose to focus on, “synchronizing the smooth application of very tiny forces,” instead of making the robots strike powerful blows like a jackhammer, according to The New York Times.

You can watch the robots in action below. 

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