The ability to transform one’s body into different forms may no longer be limited to the most popular Harry Potter series or Terminator films. The most advanced and current addition to the shapeshifting family is a metal humanoid robot, which has the ability to transform into liquid. It is quite phenomenal to watch such top technologies erupting in the field of robotics. In case you are also excited to know about this mind-boggling shapeshifting Humanoid Robot, then I have got you covered.
Engineers created tiny magnetic robots that can do quick transitions between the liquid and solid states by drawing inspiration from sea cucumbers. Gallium, which we already know has an extremely low melting point, was implanted with magnetic particles by the team responsible for this marvel. The new phase-shifting substance has been given the name magnetoactive phase transitional matter. Few months back, Tesla also showcased their lineups of humanoid robots in an event.
In this article, you will get a brief understanding of the new technological shapeshifting Humanoid robots in a comprehensive manner.
What is Shapeshifting Humanoid Robot?
The small, sea cucumber-inspired robots have the extensive potential to be more useful in the fields such as electronics assembly and even in medical applications as they can be both soft and hard, overcoming the constraints of robots that can only be one or the other.
In addition to navigating obstacle courses and removing or delivering things to a replica of the human stomach, researchers even had the robots liquify to escape prison before reforming back into their former humanoid shape.
The engineer Chengfeng Pan of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in China says, “Giving robots the ability to switch between liquid and solid states endows them with more functionality.“
There are so many uses for small or tiny robots that can get to places that are small and difficult to manage for humans with specific tools. Either here are work that requires attention to detail in repairing work to the delivery of drugs. But it should be noted that the hard materials are not made to work in confined or tight spaces, whereas the soft roots that are flexible tend to be more difficult to handle.
In order to find a suitable compromise, a group of researchers managed by Pan and his colleagues shifted to nature as the inspiration. There are animals like sea cucumbers that have the ability to change the rigidness of the tissues to improve the load capacity and minimize physical damage. On the other hand, octopuses have the ability to change the stiffness of their arms.
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How Shapeshifting Humanoid Robot Design Formed?
In order to design a robot that can perform similar tasks to the animals mentioned above. The researchers were on the look for a non-toxic substance that would allow shifting between the soft and stiff states at room temperature. In their experiment, they get the gallium that has a melting point of 29.76 degrees celsius at the normal pressure. It should be noted that you can easily melt the gallium by holding it in your hand.
The researchers mixed a gallium matrix with the ferromagnetic particles and then called a “magnetoactive solid-liquid phase transitional machine.”The mechanical engineer Carmel Majidi of Carnegie Mellon University, who is one of the senior authors on the team’s paper, says that “The magnetic particles here have two roles,”
“One is that they make the material responsive to an alternating magnetic field, so you can, through induction, heat up the material and cause the phase change. But the magnetic particles also give the robots mobility and the ability to move in response to the magnetic field.”
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What Shapeshifting Humanoid Robots Can Do?
After the trials of testing to check whether the transition from a solid state to a liquid state is reversible, the researchers try to run their tiny robots through a series of tests in which the robots have to climb over obstacles, jump over small trenches, and even split to perform cooperative tasks.
They have also showcased a video in which we can see a little humanoid version, which is kind of a Lego figure. The video shows the figure melting down to escape from the prison, and the moment it comes out in the melting form, it gets back into its normal solid shape. The scene takes us to the scene from the Terminator 2 movie.
Afterward, the team also looked into its practical applications. They made a model of the human stomach. They swallowed the robot and the capsule into the stomach, and then you can see how it took the capsule out of the stomach. It looks just outstanding. Now, it can be useful to extract swallowed batteries.
In order to perform the task in real-world applications. The transition machine needs some improvements. As we know that the temperature of a human is higher than the melting point of gallium. It can be useful for biomedical purposes in which the gallium based allow matrix helps in raising the melting point while adjusting the functionality.
The researcher says the investigation is yet to be done in detail. While Majidi says, “Future work should further explore how these robots could be used within a biomedical context.”
“What we’re showing are just one-off demonstrations, proofs of concept, but much more study will be required to delve into how this could actually be used for drug delivery or for removing foreign objects.“
There is also a research paper published by the Matter in detail.
Wrapping Up
The article shows the progress and potential of the shapeshifting humanoid Robot in an all-inclusive manner. I have covered all the significant points that are out there in the research paper published by the Matter. Comment down below. If you find the content insightful and share your thoughts on the new and advanced robotic technology that is going to change the face of technology in every sphere.
