A tiny sliver of elastic material swims along a narrow tube, coiling up and changing shape in response to the thickness of fluid and the contours of the tube around it as it moves toward its goal.

The miniature robot — the brainchild of scientists in Switzerland seeking new methods to deliver drugs to diseased tissue — is designed to wend its way through blood vessels and other systems in the body.

The team is led by Selman Sakar at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and Bradley Nelson at ETH Zurich, two leading research institutes for science and technology.