Inspired by sea cucumbers, engineers designed a small robot that transitions between liquids and solids quickly and reversibly. In addition to being able to change shape, the robot is magnetic and can conduct electricity, the researcher said in a study published Jan. 25 in the journal Mobility and shape morphing. I put the robot in a test obstacle course. project.
Conventional robots have hard, rigid bodies, whereas “soft” robots have the opposite problem. They are flexible but weak and their movements are difficult to control. “By giving the robot the ability to switch between liquid and solid states, we give it more functionality,” says Chengfeng Pan.@sungfeng bread), an engineer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who led the research.
By embedding magnetic particles in gallium, a metal with a very low melting point (29.8 °C), the team created a new phase-shifting material called a ‘magnetically active solid-liquid phase transition machine’.
“The magnetic particles here have a dual role,” says senior author and mechanical engineer Carmel Majidi (@SoftMachinesLab) Carnegie Mellon University. “For one thing, by making the material responsive to alternating magnetic fields, we can heat the material by induction and cause a phase change. It also gives you the ability to move with your hands.”
This is in contrast to existing phase-shift materials that rely on heat guns, electrical current, or other external heat sources to induce solid-to-liquid transformation. The new material also boasts a very fluid liquid phase compared to other phase change materials where the ‘liquid’ phase is fairly viscous.
Before investigating potential applications, the team tested the material’s mobility and strength in a variety of situations. With the help of magnetic fields, the robots jumped over moats, climbed walls, split in half, moved other objects together, and merged back together. In one video, a humanoid robot liquefies and oozes out of a grid before being extracted and remolded into its original shape.
“Now we are pushing this materials system in a more practical way to solve very specific medical and engineering problems,” says Pan.
On the biomedical side, the team used a robot to remove foreign objects from the model’s stomach and deliver drugs to the same stomach on demand. The material also serves as a smart soldering robot for the assembly and repair of wireless circuits (by penetrating hard-to-reach circuits and acting as both solder and conductor), and for assembling components on hard surfaces. It shows how it works as a universal mechanical “screw” for Reach the gap (no need to actually screw in as it melts into the threaded screw socket and then solidifies.)
“Future research should further explore how these robots can be used in a biomedical context,” Majidi says. “What we’re showing him is just a one-off demonstration, a proof of concept, but much more research is needed to delve into how this could actually be used for drug delivery and foreign body removal.” is required.”
Original: Watch this human-shaped robot liquefy with the power of magnets and break out of jail
Than: The Chinese University of Hong Kong | Carnegie Mellon University
