Shapeshifting robot can morph from a liquid to a solid

A new shape-shifting robot can reversibly morph between liquid and solid shapes.

The novel design was created by a team of engineers from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Carnegie Mellon University.

Inspired by sea cucumbers’ ability to go both soft or rigid depending on its environment, the miniature robot was built using magnetic particles in gallium, a metal with a very low melting point. Controlled using a magnetic field, the team can reform the robot from a liquid to a solid state.

“The magnetic particles here have two roles,” said Carmel Majidi, senior author and mechanical engineer at Carnegie Mellon University. “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.”

To test the robot’s capabilities, the team put the robot through an obstacle course of shape-morphing tests, including getting through the bars of a mini prison in an homage to Terminator 2.

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