A team of Chinese and American scientists created a humanoid robot with the ability to liquefy and reform, eerily similar to the T-1000 terminator in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
The new “magnetoactive solid-liquid phase transitional machine,” as described by the researchers, can be seen in a video switching from solid to liquid form, passing through the metal bars of a cage, then reforming outside.
“There is some context to the video. It [looks] like magic,” Carmel Majidi, a member of the team, told Popular Science.
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He explained that the only editing done on the video was recasting the mold into the original shape, which looks like a Lego figure. The figure was drawn through the metal cage with alternating electromagnetic currents.
The machine has many useful real-world functions. The robot is ideal for navigating small and convoluted spaces, such as the human body or complex machines, Science Alert explained. It would be particularly ideal for drug delivery or machine repair, both of which involve spaces that require a compromise between maneuverability and rigidity.
“Giving robots the ability to switch between liquid and solid states endows them with more functionality,” engineer Chengfeng Pan of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in China, one of the leaders of the team, told the outlet.
The researchers were inspired by sea cucumbers and octopuses, both of which can alter the stiffness of their tissue for a variety of reasons. The material the researchers found that can best recreate this function is gallium, a soft metal that liquefies at a few degrees less than the average body temperature. The unique makeup of the machine makes it responsive to an alternating electromagnetic current that allows it to move in liquid form and solidify or liquefy based on external stimuli.
Another video released by the researchers shows another possible real-world application; the robot extracts a foreign object from a simulated human stomach.
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The team stressed that the machine is still in the prototype stage and is far from being a staple of biomedical technology.
Notably, the machine is entirely controlled by electromagnetic currents and does not have the ability to operate on its own. Those worried about a T-1000-type machine going rogue need not worry — for now, at least.
