Humanoid robot is presented by scientists that can melt and regenerate

As technology gains strength, new inventions are being made and what seemed to be impossible becomes possible. Recently, scientists have presented yet another technological evolution. It is a metamorphic robot that is able to switch between liquid and metallic states, navigating in challenging environments without losing its strength. See more about this advancement in robotics.

Find out more about the advances in robotics

A great differential of this invention is that the robots can be soft and hard simultaneously. According to the creators, they were inspired by the sea cucumber. Normally, the other robots already developed so far, have only one or the other as a characteristic. The current ones will be able to act in the assembly of electronics and medical applications.

For engineer Chengfeng Pan, offering robots the change of liquid and solid states makes them more functional. The researchers proposed that they remove and deliver the objects to a model of the human stomach, in addition, make them liquefy to escape a cage.

Photo: Wang et al., Matter, 2023.

Small robots are capable of doing certain types of jobs that humans would find difficult. Locomotion in spaces too small to manage typical tools in meticulous repair work or medicine delivery is a task to do for these beings. technological.

So their ability to be soft makes it easier to navigate in confined spaces or tight angles, which for hard materials would be extremely challenging.

However, where did so much inspiration come from?

In this way, there was a need for a creation that would work as a “middle ground”. So researchers led by Pan and his colleague, Qingyuan Wang, from Sun Yat-sen University in China, have made nature their greatest inspiration.

Sea cucumbers, for example, are able to alter the stiffness of their tissues to then improve carrying capacity and limit physical damage. Octopuses, in turn, can alter the stiffness of their arms for camouflage, object manipulation, and locomotion.

After these analyses, the researchers concluded that it was necessary to find a material that was not toxic and that could easily transit between the soft and rigid states at room temperature.

So the best option they found was gallium. A soft metal whose melting point is 29.76 degrees Celsius at standard pressure. That is, it is only a few degrees below the average temperature of the human body. They then embedded a gallium matrix with magnetic particles and thus created the "magnetoactive solid-liquid phase transition machine".

Why magnetic particles?

There are two main functions. The first is that they will make the material responsive to an alternating magnetic field. So you can heat the material, by induction, and generate the phase change. Second function is that they will enable mobility to robots and ability to move to the magnetic field.

Even after all creation, the researchers tested whether the transition from solid to liquid was really reversible. And yes, it was. Thus, the robots were submitted to a series of tests and concluded that they are able to jump small pits, climb obstacles and even divide tasks among themselves.

Understand a practical application

A model of a human stomach was created and the researchers made the robot swallow and later remove a small object contained in it. This situation made them understand that the reverse operation was possible and, therefore, could help a medical team a lot.

However, for biomedical purposes much more studies are still needed. That's because the Human Body is higher than the melting point of gallium, and for the robot to actually be useful, it would need a gallium-based alloy matrix that would increase the melting point, thus maintaining its functionality.