  We study experimentally the motion of non-deformable microbeads in a linear
shear flow close to a wall bearing a thin and soft polymer layer. Combining
microfluidics and 3D optical tracking, we demonstrate that the steady-state
bead/surface distance increases with the flow strength. Moreover, such lift is
shown to result from flow-induced deformations of the layer, in quantitative
agreement with theoretical predictions from elastohydrodynamics. This study
thus provides the first experimental evidence of "soft lubrication" at play at
small scale, in a system relevant {\it e.g.} to the physics of blood
microcirculation.
