Significance There is great interest in robotic systems that can substitute for humans and replicate human actions. “Microrobotics” describes robotic systems that have submillimeter (sub-mm) dimensions, which is becoming increasingly important for the manipulation and analysis of individual cells and groups of cells. Here we introduce the optoelectronic microrobot, a system in which projected patterns of light are applied to control electric fields. Specially designed microrobots respond to the fields, and can be programmed to move and “scoop up” mammalian cells or other sub-mm particles such that they can be isolated and evaluated independently. The technique is straightforward to implement, and we propose will find wide use for the ever-expanding list of applications that require micromanipulation of cells.