'Pinhead' camera costs just pennies

A MICROSCOPIC "pinhead" camera has been developed that costs pennies to make and could have a host of applications, from surgery to robotics.

The device fits on the head of a pin and contains no lenses or moving parts.

US scientists at Cornell University in New York produced a working prototype measuring just half a millimetre across that is able to resolve 20 pixel images.

Scientists say that, while the camera would not be used for the average family portrait, it could help brain surgeons image neurons or be a component in any cheap electronic system.

It could, for example, be fitted to devices that detect the angle of the sun, or micro-robots that require a simple visual system to navigate.

Details of the camera appear in the journal Optics Letters.