In the past few years, we have been seeing great advancements in robots and Artificial Intelligence. An example is ChatGPT, which we talked about in a previous post. Recently, though, according to a study published in the scientific journal Matter, scientists recently created a robot that can switch between liquid and solid states.
What is it, exactly?
This robot can turn into a liquid state then harden back into a solid state, which allows for it a lot more mobility and ease of movement. Many believe that it can have many beneficial uses, especially in the medical industry. Others, however, find an unsettling similarity between this robot and a fictional robot from the movie Terminator 2.
In the 1991 movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the T-1000 robot, a prominent antagonist, was famous for its ability to shapeshift and turn any part of its body into a weapon. With the rampant development of technology, many are fearing that the fictional scenarios from famous science fiction movies where robots take over the world may just become a reality for us in the near future.
While it may sound like the researchers got inspiration from Hollywood, they actually got the idea from the simple sea cucumber, which is known for its ability to change from a soft to a rigid state.
What Can It Do and How Does It Work?
Using the element gallium, which melts at 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and magnetic particles, the robot was able to melt into a goo then come back together with the help of a mold. In a series of experiments from the study, the new robot could jump up to 20 times its body length, climb walls, solder a circuit board and escape from a prison. It could support an object about 30 times its own weight in its solid state. This robot, researchers believe, will help in the areas of the biomedical field. One of them being removing a foreign object from a stomach.
So what do you think? Is this an important advancement in the fields of technology and medicine, or is it just another step to a dystopian future run by robots?
