Engineers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have created a transforming robot that can turn into liquid and change shape. This study was published in the journal Matter.
The researchers tested the robot by having it negotiate obstacle courses such as ditches and rock ledges, excavate foreign bodies or deliver drugs and items to a model of a human stomach, and even liquefy it to get it out of its cage and then return it to an original LEGO human Form. The final test recreates a scene from the movie «Terminator 2».
As mentioned, hard surface robots are very difficult to use in tight spaces or places with rough terrain. Soft robots are more mobile, but not as durable and harder to control.
To create a model that combines the advantages of both types, scientists turned to nature. Some species, such as sea cucumbers and octopuses, can change the stiffness of their body tissues to move or camouflage.
The robot was to be based on a non-toxic material that could change from solid to liquid at moderate temperatures. So the scientists chose gallium (melting point 29.76 ° C). They created a matrix of gallium and placed magnetic particles in it. They made the robot sensitive to an alternating magnetic field, so the material could inductively heat up and cause a phase change. Models also gained mobility.
It should be noted that the robot needs to be refined for use in medicine because the temperature of the human body is higher than the melting point of gallium. In order for the robot to function in the body, an alloy must be used instead of pure gallium.
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