Unless we dedicate ourselves entirely to hardware and extreme overclocking sessions, when we hear the phrase “liquid metal” the first thing that comes to mind is Robert Patrick with giant blades coming out of his hands. A group of researchers from the universities of Sussex and Swansea has created a more benign variant of liquid metal, which can be programmed using small electric charges to adopt basic shapes.
The concept of soft robotics is truly fascinating. It is not difficult to imagine applications for a series of ultra-flexible, malleable robots, with an almost organic behavior, but reaching them presents several challenges. The people at Festo have surprised us with their robots inspired by bats and fish, and from a certain point of view they can be considered “soft”, however, there are researchers who want to go one step further, ending the tyranny of servos, supports and conventional joints. That takes us to the universities of Sussex and Swansea, where they managed to develop a platform that “programs” liquid metal. Let's see:
The video shows the two-dimensional deformation of a highly conductive liquid metal in a dynamic electric field. Each of the circles is a kind of cell or electrode to which negative voltage is applied. The liquid metal is a eutectic alloy of gallium and indium, and the advantage is that its surface tension depends largely on external voltages. That means that by manipulating several electrodes at once, scientists can guide the liquid metal to adopt a specific shape. The resolution of the shapes is limited by the 7x7 grid of electrodes, and the video content was accelerated six times (which makes the process very slow in real time), but all control is carried out with a mouse and a simple interface.
https://old.neoteo.com/impresion-3d-con-metal-liquido/The experts admit that this is preliminary work, but they highlight the enormous potential of the technology, which can reach flexible screens, smart electronics, and of course, the aforementioned soft robots. I imagine the next step will be to increase the resolution of the electrode grid, or to look for an alternative alloy that responds better to changes. As long as the liquid metal stays away from artificial intelligences with killer instinct, I suppose there will be no problems... (?)
Official site: Click here
