{"id":3873,"date":"2023-02-01T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T07:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=3873"},"modified":"2023-02-01T19:37:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T19:37:31","slug":"terminator-style-shape-shifting-robot-is-able-to-liquefy-and-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=3873","title":{"rendered":"Terminator-style Shape-shifting Robot Is Able To LIQUEFY And Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Stephen Beech<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Terminator-style shape-shifting robot able to LIQUEFY and reform has been developed by engineers inspired by sea cucumbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazing video footage shows the human-shaped automation turning to liquid to escape a cage before reforming on the other side of the bars.An experiment of LIQUEFY robot seen in the illustration. A Terminator-style shape-shifting robot able to LIQUEFY and reform has been developed by engineers inspired by sea cucumbers. THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG\/SWNS TALKER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team took the humble sea cucumber as their inspiration to design miniature robots that rapidly and reversibly shift between liquid and solid states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as being able to shape-shift, the engineers say their robots are magnetic and can also conduct electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They put the robots through an obstacle course of mobility and shape-morphing tests in a study published in the journal Matter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team leader\u00a0Doctor Chengfeng Pan<\/a>\u00a0explained that where traditional robots are hard-bodied and stiff, \u201csoft\u201d robots have the opposite problem; they are flexible but weak, and their movements are difficult to control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Pan, an engineer at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: \u201cGiving robots the ability to switch between liquid and solid states endows them with more functionality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team created the new phase-shifting material \u2013 dubbed a \u201cmagnetoactive solid-liquid phase transitional machine\u201d \u2013 by embedding magnetic particles in gallium, a metal with a very low melting point of 29.8 Celcius (85.6 Fahrenheit).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior author Professor Carmel Majidi<\/a>, a mechanical engineer at Carnegie Mellon University, in Canada said: \u201cThe magnetic particles here have two roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne is that they make the material responsive to an alternating magnetic field, so you can, through induction, heat up the material and cause the phase change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut the magnetic particles also give the robots mobility and the ability to move in response to the magnetic field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that the process is in contrast to existing phase-shifting materials that rely on heat guns, electrical currents, or other external heat sources to induce solid-to-liquid transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Majidi says the new material also boasts an \u201cextremely fluid\u201d liquid phase compared to other phase-changing materials, whose \u201cliquid\u201d phases are considerably more viscous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before exploring potential applications, the team tested the material\u2019s mobility and strength in a variety of scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the aid of a magnetic field, the robots jumped over moats, climbed walls, and even split in half to cooperatively move other objects around before coalescing back together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one video, a robot shaped like a person liquefies to ooze through a grid after which it is extracted and remolded back into its original shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Pan said: \u201cNow, we\u2019re pushing this material system in more practical ways to solve some very specific medical and engineering problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team also used the robots to remove a foreign object from a model stomach and to deliver drugs on-demand into the same stomach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also demonstrated how the material could work as smart soldering robots for wireless circuit assembly and repair and as a universal mechanical \u201cscrew\u201d for assembling parts in hard-to-reach spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Majidi added: \u201cFuture work should further explore how these robots could be used within a biomedical context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re showing are just one-off demonstrations, proofs of concept, but much more study will be required to delve into how this could actually be used for drug delivery or for removing foreign objects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Published without changes from Zenger News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stephen Beech A Terminator-style shape-shifting robot able to LIQUEFY and reform has been developed by engineers inspired<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t