Scientists have reincarnated Spider-Man’s symbiotic Venom as a magnetic slime robot that can navigate narrow passageways, grab objects and even fix broken circuits. It’s also conductive, which could allow it to repair electrical current between cut wires.
The researchers made the non-Newtonian material by mixing polyvinyl alcohol, borax and neodymium magnet particles. It moves like a fluid when deformed slowly and is elastic enough to encapsulate an object.
Safety
Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong created a magnetic slime robot that navigates narrow passages and can grasp objects. It’s a blend of polyvinyl alcohol, borax, and neodymium magnet particles. When exposed to magnets, it can rotate and shift between O and C shapes and can even interconnect electrodes.
The scientists think that slime robots could one day be used in surgery. They’re hoping that medical specialists will be able to use imaging to find an object and then direct this magnetic slime robot to it. The stretchy ooze looks like the kind of thing that you might see in a sci-fi movie.
It can wrap around objects like an octopus, and it’s even self-healing. That might sound creepy, but it’s actually pretty useful. Its conductivity could allow it to do repairs on power lines, which require a special procedure that can be dangerous for workers. This magnetic slime robot might make the job safer and faster.
Ease of Programming
Researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have created a magnetic slime robot that can move, rotate, grow an arm, encapsulate objects and even pick up wires. It is made of a mix of polyvinyl alcohol, borax and glass coated neodymium magnet particles and behaves like a fluid or solid depending on the force applied to it.
It uses a concept from 4th grade science class – magnets attract and repel each other. These tiny bits of magnets suspended in the slime material are controlled by external magnets to propel the robot forward and backward. The slime can also fit into small spaces, flex and grab objects, like an octopus slithering around its prey.
There are many different methods of programming a cobot. Each one has pros and cons. The best method depends on your needs, including the level of expertise required and downtime. For example, if you need the cobot to work quickly and efficiently, graphical offline programming or hand-guiding may be better options.
Conductivity
A magnetic slime robot might sound like something straight out of Spider-Man’s symbiotic villain Venom, but it could actually make some invasive medical procedures easier for doctors to perform. Scientists in Hong Kong have made the custard-like material into a shape-shifting machine that can squeeze into tight spaces and grab objects. It is also self-healing, and can conduct electricity.
The blob of goo is made from a mixture of polyvinyl alcohol, borax and glass-coated neodymium magnet particles. When deformed slowly, it behaves like a fluid, but when squeezed rapidly, it becomes an elastic solid.
The neodymium magnets inside give the magnetic slime a range of shapes and capabilities, such as growing an arm to grasp a wire or encapsulating a set of pellets. The flexible slime can even stretch quite a bit from point A to point B, which could make it useful for conducting repairs on electrical devices that are hard to reach, such as those in remote locations.
Mobility
Using the same technology to observe snail foot muscles, Cornell professor Itai Cohen is working on tiny robots that mimic their locomotion. Those robots could one day help surgeons perform certain procedures, though they aren’t yet as versatile as their real-life counterparts.
Scientists have already created a magnetic slime robot that can grab objects (like a swallowed button battery) and deform to squeeze into spaces that are impractical for doctors to reach. It is also self-healing.
The slime robot, made of polyvinyl alcohol and borax, has neodymium magnet particles for control and conductivity. It can even deform into complex shapes such as disks, hexagons and rings.
Although the magnetic slime robot still needs to be reprogrammed to handle specific tasks, it has great potential for applications in the fields of electricity and medicine. It might even replace special repair work in power lines that is currently done by hand, a process that can take hours and lead to injury or death for the workers involved.