This Slime Robot Could Help Doctors Retrieve Toxic Objects Swallowed By Accident
The slime is controlled by magnets and also made of electrically conductive materials.
Researchers have created a slime robot that can move, deform and reform itself and travel through narrow spaces.
New Scientist
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The slime is controlled by magnets and also made of electrically conductive materials. It is made of a polymer dubbed polyvinyl, alcohol, borax as well as particles of neodymium magnets. In fact, the slime can connect to electrodes too.
Developed by Professor Li Zhang of the University of Hong Kong, it consists of magnetic particles that can be manipulated to travel, rotate or form O and C shapes when they come in contact with external magnetic fields.
The gooey blob actually has ¡®visco-elastic properties¡¯ -- essentially sometimes it behaves like a solid object, and sometimes it behaves like a liquid. It¡¯s like a non-Newtonian fluid -- an oobleck that changes its density upon pressure.
Zhang explains, ¡°When you touch it very quickly it behaves like a solid. When you touch it gently and slowly it behaves like a liquid.¡±
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New Scientist
Researchers envision that the slime could come in handy to help retrieve harmful objects swallowed by individuals or to cover something toxic to prevent its spreading in the body.
Even though right now it¡¯s donning the rather blackish-brown tone, researchers say that by using dye pigments, it can be given brighter colours for ease of visibility.
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