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Video: Self-Propelled Liquid Metal Bringing Shape Shifting Robots Closer
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Many fans of the Terminator films will remember the T-1000, the shape-shifting robot that appeared in the the second film of the franchise.
A self-propelled liquid metal motor has been developed, bringing us much closer to real T-1000 robots in the future.
A group of researchers from the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, have invented the first liquid metal robot – it can change shapes and power itself.
The New Scientist reports:
Hasta la vista, baby. A real-life T-1000, the shape-shifting liquid-metal robot from Terminator 2, is a step closer, thanks to a self-powered liquid metal motor.
The device is surprisingly simple: just a drop of metal alloy made mostly of gallium – which is liquid at just under 30 °C – with some indium and tin mixed in. When placed in a solution of sodium hydroxide, or even brine, and kept in contact with a flake of aluminium for “fuel”, it moves around for about an hour. It can travel in a straight line, run around the outside of a circular dish, or squeeze through complex shapes.
“The soft machine looks rather intelligent and [can] deform itself according to the space it voyages in, just like [the] Terminator does from the science-fiction film,” says Jing Liu from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. “These unusual behaviours perfectly resemble the living organisms in nature,” he says, adding that they raise questions about the definition of life.
When they first saw the drop move, Liu and colleagues weren’t sure how it was able to do so. Experiments revealed two mechanisms at play. Some of the thrust stems from a charge imbalance across the drop, which in turn creates a pressure differential between the front and the back that pushes it forward. The aluminium also reacts with the sodium hydroxide, releasing hydrogen bubbles which drive the drop even faster.
Source: http://truthisscary.com/2015/05/video-self-propelled-liquid-metal-bringing-shape-shifting-robots-closer/
Lye water, hydrogen gas, electricity, and a metal which reacts with atmospheric oxygen, do not have any reasonable, industrial application as a pump, and do not raise any more questions about the nature of life than an Alka Seltzer.
Were it not for sensationalist claims, and me wondering about the fate of the toxic byproducts, it would have been cute to watch this as a sophomoric chemistry or physics demo — without being prompted to buy any subscriptions.