GUINNESS WORLD RECORD

1995 Model
In 1995, the Guinness Book of Records awarded a World Record Certificate to Nippondenso Co., Ltd. (now DENSO Corporation) for development of the world's smallest motorized car.

The DENSO Micro-Car is a miniature version of Toyota's first passenger car, the 1936 Model AA sedan. Its size is astounding: 1/1000th the size of the actual car or about the size of a grain of rice. Dimensions are: 4.785 mm long, 1.73 mm wide and 1.736 mm tall.

The Micro-Car has a total of 24 parts which come in 13 different types including body, tires, spare tire, wheels, axle, bearings, headlights, rearlights, front bumper, rear bumper, step, number plate and emblem.

To give you an idea of how tiny the car is, you can compare it to the width of a human hair, which is about 80 micron measurements (one micron equals 0.001 mm). Some Micro-Car statistics are:

• Stainless steel bumper – 50 microns thin and 220 microns wide.
  Wheels – 500 microns in diameter.
• Number plate – 200 microns high and 400 microns wide.

A 0.67 mm-sized magnetic-type working motor consisting of five different parts including a magnet and core powers the tiny car. When supplied with 3V 20 mA of alternating current through an 18-micron-thin copper wire, the engine can run at 600 rpm.

Why Build a Micro-Car?
DENSO Research Laboratories in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, developed the Micro-Car to demonstrate the potential of micro-machine technology in both industrial and medical applications. Researchers also wanted to improve DENSO's capabilities in ultra-precision machining and semi-conductor processing technologies.Although an emerging technology today, the future of micromachine technology holds limitless potential in the areas of industrial and medical applications.

1996 Model
To that end, DENSO researchers succeeded in 1996 in eliminating the energy source copper wire that powered its 1995 Micro-Car.The 1996 model has no wire at all. Instead, it receives its power through remote magnetic energy transmission."Wireless, non-contact energy supply is crucial to the success of future industrial and medical applications of micromachine technology," says researcher Dr. Tadashi Hattori of DENSO Research Laboratories in Nisshin, Japan.Hattori explains, "A wireless, micro-robot would be able to travel where human beings could not. For example, it could be sent to the interior of a nuclear power plant to repair defects or gather information. Or through veins or arteries to treat defects without major sugery."In the 1996 model, an arm and attached permanent magnet rock back and forth like a child's teeter-totter when AC is applied to coils located under the racing track. Latches attached to the end of the arm engage sprockets, thus providing forward motion.

1996 Model Statistics
Permanent magnet	SmCo
Teeth on sprocket:	16
Coil:	1000 T
Power:	100 VA
Frequency:	8-12 Hz
Vehicle Speed:	5-6 mm/sec

DENSO Research Laboratories focuses its research on semiconductors, information and communications systems, display technologies, micromachine technology and robotics.