A liquid terminator was created: a robot that can spread and split in half
Researchers have created a robot that can turn into liquid and get into hard-to-reach places
Inspired by the sea cucumber, scientists have created miniature robots that are based on liquid metal. The robots can change between solid and liquid states and have potential applications in fields such as medicine.
The researchers, who come from Sun Yat-sen and Zhejiang Universities in China and Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, have revealed their development of metal robots that can transition from a solid to a liquid state. Although their creation resembles the T-1000 robot from the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the team cites the sea cucumber as the source of inspiration for their work.
The scientists explain how the sea cucumber can change the consistency of its skin from soft to hard in a matter of seconds, and how the skin-changing octopus can manipulate the rigidity of its limbs to grasp objects or move.
The result of their work is a robot made of a magneto-active phase transition material (MPTM) that can change from solid to liquid when exposed to a magnetic field and then solidify at room temperature.
This robot has a strength of 21.2 megapascals and a stiffness of 1.98 gigapascals, and can change shape through a simple magnetic field at a speed of 1.5 m/s while carrying a load of 30 kilograms.
This robot does not have a motor or actuator, and instead is simply a pellet that can be moulded into various shapes.
It is made up of ferromagnetic micro-particles of a neodymium-boron (NdFeB) alloy in a liquid metal matrix with a low melting point. The researchers chose gallium, whose melting point is 29.8°C, as the liquid metal.
