Scientists create tiny metal robot which can turn to liquid and reform

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, For years people have imagined a robot which melts and reforms

It sounds like something straight out of science fiction, but scientists have invented a tiny robot which can melt into a liquid and become solid again.

The millimetre-sized robot (that's a tenth of a cm) is made up of a mix of the liquid metal gallium and microscopic pieces of a magnetic material made of neodymium, iron and boron.

Scientists say it could assemble parts in hard-to-reach places or even deliver medicine into somebody's stomach.

Robots that are soft enough to get into places like the human body already exist but the problem is they are not very strong.

Whereas this robot, called a Magnetoactive phase transitional matter (MPTM) can hold something 30 times its own mass when it is solid.

The researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania put it near magnets to make it soften or move.

They then put them through a series of tests, including climbing walls, and moving objects.

Image source, Wang and Pan et al.

Image caption, The researchers were able to turn the robot to liquid so it could go through the bars of a cage

In one video a robot shaped like a toy figure was able to turn into liquid and escape out of a cage reforming on the other side of the bars.

Another experiment involved an artificial stomach using magnetic fields the robot or MPTM was able to melt over an object and drag it out of the stomach.

The authors of the study which is published in the journal Matter say the robot could be used in emergencies to solve medical and engineering problems.