Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a new material that can make shape-shifting robots like the T-1000 in Terminator 2 a reality.
The shape-shifting material was created from 3D-printing and through a combination of wax and polyurethane foam, according to Mashable. The research team behind the material developed a way to cover the foam in wax and then heat and cool specific parts so that the material could switch between being hard and soft.
The technology was developed by MIT Professor Anette Hosoi, former MIT graduate student Nadia Cheng, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Dynamics and Self-Organization and researchers at Stony Brook University. Hosoi and Cheng were looking to create a robot that was similar to a snake, capable of moving through a one-centimeter hole and still able to move around after coming out the other side.
The wax was also heated so the material would be able to repair any damage susatined. Internal foam was also chosen due to its ability to be squished into a small fraction of its normal size and still return to its original form.
"This material is self-healing," Hosoi explained. "So if you push it too far and fracture the coating, you can heat it and then cool it, and the structure returns to its original configuration."
Cheng, who currently builds squishy robots for Empire Robotics, said the research team was looking to create a material that wasn't "completely squishy and floppy," Mashable reported.
"We wanted to produce something that would produce significant volume change, but something that could still be useful, support payloads and enforce payloads on the environment," Cheng said.
The shape-shift material was developed as part of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) Chemical Robots program. The goal of the program was to build "squishy" robots that can fit through small spaces and then expand again to move through certain areas.
Hosoi said researchers believe robots can use this material for search-and-rescue missions, having the ability to squeeze through rubble while looking for survivors. The use of foam and wax also allows for researchers to build advanced robot technology in an inexpensive way.
Hosoi is currently looking into how electrorheological and magnetorheological fluids, as well as other unconventional materials that are able to switch between soft and rigid states, can be used for the development of robots.
