Watch this robot shape-shift to escape from a jail cell
Published on Feb 22, 2023 at 9:43 AM (UTC+4)
by Kate Bain
Last updated on Feb 22, 2023 at 9:43 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Scientists have created a shape-shifting robot.
Crazy footage shows the robot melting down into liquid form and escaping from a jail cell before transforming back into a solid robot again.
It’s hard to believe until you watch the footage, and even then it’s pretty hard to wrap your head around.
You can watch it in action here!
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Who made the shape-shifting robot?
The robot was created by scientists from Carnegie Mellon University in the United States and Sun Yat-sen University in China.
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What’s its purpose?
The melting robot was created as the first step toward solving medical problems.
Scientists hope the material will be used to help remove foreign objects from the body and drug delivery among other things.
What is it made out of?
It’s made out of magnetic particles and gallium.
“We introduced this combination of gallium, which is this metal that has a very low melting point, and we embedded within that gallium these magnetic microparticles,” scientist Carmel Majidi said.
It doesn’t take much for the gallium to melt, in fact it can start melting at room temperature.
How does it work?
Put simply, the material reacts to magnetic fields.
Mr Majidi said that when an alternating magnetic field was run through the metal, it could melt, move and reform.
“When we apply an alternating magnetic field, what that does is actually induces electrical current within that metal, and that current causes the metal to heat up, to melt, and then the substance becomes fluid-like,” he told the BBC.
Inspiration
Even though it basically looks like a little LEGO character, the robot’s shape-shifting abilities closely resemble the scary ‘liquid’ Terminator T-1000 from Terminator 2.
Mind you, scientists said their inspiration actually came from sea cucumbers because they too have the ability to change their shape and stiffness.
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Kate is Lead Editor, overseeing coverage across automotive, tech, and lifestyle content on the site. She has more than 10 years’ experience as a journalist and news editor, having worked across a range of major publications including News Corp, Daily Mail Australia, and Sky News. Kate holds a Bachelor of Business Management from University of Queensland and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from Queensland University of Technology. She has been with Supercar Blondie since 2020 and played a key role in establishing supercarblondie.com as a leading automotive news destination.
