Researchers have been inspired by the terrifying sci-fi technology portrayed in the film Terminator 2 and built a microscopic shape-shifting robot that can travel between liquid and solid forms and perhaps save lives. They shared a video of a lego man-sized robot escaping a small jail cell by melting into liquid and traveling through the bars and then reforming itself like the T-1000.
In a scene in the movie of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the T-1000, which is made of liquid metal, changes shape to smoothly glide through what appears to be an indestructible jail-barred door of a psychiatric institution while attempting to assassinate Sarah Connor.
The Making of the Shape-Shifting Robot
Scientists used magnetic particles of neodymium, boron, and iron in liquid gallium to create the shape-shifting robot, Live Science reports. Gallium, particularly, is a metal with a low melting point that makes it a perfect component for the robot.
In their study, titled "Magnetoactive Liquid-solid Phase Transitional Matter" published in the journal Matter, researchers discussed how they performed the melting trick of their shape-shifting robot.
Through magnetic induction, the team could heat up the robot and turn it into liquid. Its two superpowers, melting and magnets, allow the micro-robot can move practically in any place. The team captured it morphing into an amorphous puddle and slithered past the bars of a cage before reforming itself on the other side.
They wrote that magnetic induction uses a moving magnet to set up an electrical current inside the robot. The electric current can melt the gallium and magnetic particles inside it causing it to be drawn toward the magnet.
Mechanical engineer Carmel Majidi from Carnegie Mellon University said in a press release that the magnetic particles serve two functions. First, they make the material receptive to an alternating magnetic field so it could heat up and shift shapes through induction. Secondly, it provides mobility and the capacity to move in reaction to the magnetic field of the robots.
Researchers reveal that the gadget was inspired by sea cucumbers, which have been recorded flipping between soft and rigid states to protect themselves from their surroundings and enhance the weight they can carry.
Possible Uses of Shape-Shifting Robot
In 2019, researchers from China created a similar technology using magnetic particles of nickel or iron to produce liquid metals that can be manipulated with magnets. Researchers of that project said it presents a fundamental and promising platform for liquid metals to be used as reconfigurable intelligent and biomimetic soft robots.
A few years later, this new study proves that the science fiction concept of T-1000 from Terminator 2 could be possible in some ways. As Live Science reports, the team noted several potential medical and technological applications for their invention.
For now, the shape-shifting robot has passed multiple tests, including fixing circuits in tough-to-reach spaces and transforming itself into solder into a screw socket and solidifying to become a mechanical screw, and also removing a foreign object from a model stomach.
The study's lead author, engineer Chengfeng Pan from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said that giving robots the ability to switch phases between liquid and solid endows them with more functionality. Through more research, they are confident in pushing it to become useful in solving various medical and engineering problems.
Watch the video below of the shape-shifting robot as it tries to pass trhough the bars:
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