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Scientists have created a diminutive " Terminator 2"-like robot that can mellow out and resolidify itself on command , enabling it to easily escape from bound outer space .
To make the phase angle - switch robot , scientists embedded microscopic chunk of magnetic neodymium , boron and iron into fluent atomic number 31 ( a metallic element with a low melting point ) and left it to solidify .
The robot melting itself to escape from a cell, before reconstituting itself on the other side.
And just like the spikelet - chilling T-1000 from " Terminator 2 , " the automaton has shape - shifting power that make it an excellent escape creative person . By using attractor to command their miniature universe to melt , the investigator enter the automaton transforming into an uncrystallized puddle to slide through the bars of a batting cage before miraculously reconstituting itself on the other side . The investigator publish their findings Jan 25 in the journalMatter .
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To execute this melting trick , the researchers heat up the bot through a cognitive process known as magnetic induction — using a moving magnet to determine up an electrical stream inside the automaton . The electric current melt the gallium , and the magnetic chemical element suspend in spite of appearance caused it to be disembowel toward the attractor .
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" The magnetic particle here have two roles , " fourth-year authorCarmel Majidi , a mechanically skillful engineer at Carnegie Mellon University , said in astatement . " One is that they make the material antiphonal to an alternating magnetic field , so you could , through induction , fire up up the material and make the phase variety . But the magnetized particles also give the robot mobility and the power to move in response to the magnetic field . "
The researcher say the inspiration for the gadget amount from sea cucumbers , which have been observed switching between soft and stiff states to protect themselves from their environs and increase the weight they can sway .
The researchers see several possible aesculapian and technological applications for their automaton . So far , it has passed multiple test : ready circuit by infix rugged - to - reach spot and then transubstantiate itself into solder ; unfreeze into a screw socket and then solidify to become a mechanical screw ; and removing a foreign object from a model abdomen .
" give robots the power to switch between fluent and solid state of matter endows them with more functionality , " track authorChengfeng Pan , an engine driver at The Chinese University of Hong Kong , said in the program line . " Now , we ’re force this material system in more virtual ways to resolve some very specific medical and engine room job . "
