Researchers have developed a robot from a metal capable of melting and solidifying at will. This change of state could bring applications in the field of medicine.
He could have launched a “Hasta la vista, baby”. But the metal robot created by Chinese and American researchers does not have speech. Its particularity is to be able to liquefy before returning to a solid state. But this one won’t seek to kill unlike the T-1000 robot from the Terminator 2 movie.
To achieve this feat (immortalized on video), its creators made it from gallium. This metal has a very low melting temperature, which allows it to melt from 29.8°C. It was then enough for the scientists to add magnetic particles to the composition to give new capabilities to their robot, explains Science and Future.
Upcoming medical applications
Thanks to these particles, it is possible to heat the element by induction: which allows it to pass to the liquid state. But they also allow the robot to move under the impulse of a magnetic field. Something to revolutionize micro-robotics, which today is faced with models that are either very flexible but too fragile, or resistant but too rigid.
According to the researchers, whose work was published in the journal matterthis happy medium could lead to medical applications. The shift from solid to liquid phase would then be used to deliver drugs to specific locations in the body. While the reverse state change could capture foreign bodies, before evacuating them. The whole thing nevertheless remains dependent on the raising of the melting point above the temperature of the body, point Futura Science.
A second area of activity is advanced by scientists: electronics. During their work, they used two models of the robot to move components on an electrical circuit. Once in the right location, the melting of the devices allowed a weld to be made. This process could also allow the replacement of screws in hard-to-reach places.
