Scientists from the University of Hong Kong have created a robot of Liquid metal which can change to liquid or solid state when desired. remember the famous T-1000 of the movie Terminator 2.
James Cameron is triumphing these days with Avatar: The Sense of Water, but 32 years ago he was already sweeping the box office with films like Terminator 2. The most shocking scene in the film showed the Terminator T-1000, a killer robot, turning liquid to escape from a cell, and instantly recomposing itself.
It was science fiction 30 years ago and it is now too, because we are very far from getting a robot to do what is seen in this video… luckily…
In the movie, the terminator could not only become liquid or solid at will: he could also copy the shape of any person or object, just by touching it.
What Professor Chengfeng Pan of the University of Hong Kong and his team have achieved is much more basicbut with interesting applications.
The liquid metal robot that goes through the bars
Most metals become liquid at very high temperatures. Except one: the galliumwhich liquefies just 29.8 degrees Celsius.
So these researchers mixed gallium with magnetic microparticles of neodymium-iron-boron. These particles serve two functions: are heated by inductionthat is, with a magnetic field, and also they are attracted to him.
Here we have the liquid metal robotin the shape of a Lego figure, which is turns liquid to escape from the cell, and then turns to solidify:
As we see, when applying a magnetic field the robot is attracted to it, and can be move in any direction.
If that magnetic field intensifies, the robot gets hot up to 30 degrees, and it becomes liquid. That liquid can be continued by manipulating with the magnet, to move it. Finally, applying cold turns to solidify.
Beyond the joke / tribute of Terminatora liquid metal robot may have interesting applications.
These researchers have tried using it to remove foreign bodies from the stomach. The robot reaches the object by means of magnetic induction, it becomes liquid by enveloping the object, it becomes solid again, and it is extracted by means of induction. Gallium is not toxic.
Another function is connect chips and electronic circuits by remote control. can be directed to metal robot to the circuit, and turn it into a liquid to create an electrical connection.
This liquid metal robot which can become solid either liquid is far from like Terminatorbut it can be useful for some very specific tasks.
