1990’s classic “Terminator 2” has one of the scariest robots in cinema, with the T-1000’s ability to liquefy itself to recover and enter anywhere without difficulty. Because more than 30 years later scientists tested a robot made with liquid metal that can change its shape and vary between liquid and solid stateassuming different formats.
As you can see in the video below, the robot manages to change the shape of a Lego figure that escapes from a prison through the gap between the bars. More than that, the result published in the journal Matter, the liquid formed by small robots uses magnetic fields to control its shape and movements.
The idea is that, using magnets, the metal can be used in biomedical and engineering technologies, from assembling circuits to administering targeted drugs — in the video, it is possible to see the technology taking a medicine to a fake stomach.
The key, according to the paper, is the use of magnetoactive phase transition matter (MPTM). To create this, the researchers used gallium metal embedded with tiny magnetic particles, then placed the shape-shifting liquid metal robots in magnetic fields that they could control.
Another benefit of having a piece of technology that can transition between the two states is also a way to escape the durability issues associated with conventional robots.
