A person-shaped robot liquefing to escape from a cage. (Wang and Pan et al)

Scientists made a shape-shifting robot that can flip between liquid and solid, conduct electricity, and have magnetic properties, according to findings published in the scientific journal Matter.

In a statement, Chengfeng Pan, an engineer at The Chinese University of Hong Kong who led the study, said "Giving robots the ability to switch between liquid and solid states endows them with more functionality."

In further detail, Carmel Majidi of Carnegie Mellon University, a senior author on the project, said as quoted by Science News that the idea was inspired by sea cucumbers, which "can very rapidly and reversibly change their stiffness."

According to the Smithsonian Magazine, traditional robots cannot usually reach small locations due to their rigid bodies, while more flexible ones are too fragile.

The scientist decided to build a robot that can change shape between solid and liquid and so be both strong and flexible.

“This is a video of a person-shaped robot liquifying to escape from a cage after which it is extracted and remolded back into its original shape.” - University of Hong Kong
Looks like it uses a magnetic field. I for one welcome our shape-shifting overlords 🤖 pic.twitter.com/AEKtBf9XZf
— Dr. Goodknight 🎸 (@DrGoodknight) January 26, 2023

Gallium is used to create the shape-shifting robot, as per Matter study. Gallium can melt at temperatures as low as 30 degrees Celsius. The scientists then mixed magnetic particles with the metal, which would allow them to utilize magnets to regulate how the robot moves or melts.

"The magnetic particles here have two roles," Majidi added.

"One is that they make the material responsive to an alternating magnetic field, so you can, through induction, heat up the material and cause the phase change. But the magnetic particles also give the robots mobility and the ability to move in response to the magnetic field," he eviscerated.

Furthermore, the study revealed the robot could liquify to escape from a cage before the scientist returned it to its previous shape in one test.

The robot could also "leap over moats, climb walls, and even split in half to jointly move other things around before merging back together," according to the study.

The researchers believe that this robot could also be useful in the biomedical industry. It is worth noting that the robot was employed to relocate a foreign object lodged in a simulated stomach in one experiment.