Liquid robot can split into tiny droplets and reform into a blob

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A robot made from magnetic fluid tin beryllium made smaller, thinner, oregon directed to interruption up with peculiar magnets, which could beryllium utile for delivering drugs into the body

Physics 16 September 2022

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

A brushed robot made from droplets of a magnetic fluid tin interruption itself up and reconstitute itself aboriginal erstwhile it encounters obstacles oregon constrictive passages. Researchers accidental it could beryllium utilized for targeted cause delivery successful the future.

Xinjian Fan astatine Soochow University successful Taiwan and his colleagues utilized droplets of a ferrofluid, successful this lawsuit magnetic robust oxide nanoparticles suspended successful oil, to marque a brushed robot astir a centimetre successful size. A acceptable of controllable magnets tin nonstop the robot to determination oregon alteration shape, arsenic needed, by acting connected the nanoparticles.

To marque it determination done a constrictive channel, the researchers utilized their magnets to compression the robot into a thin, elongated shape. They besides utilized magnetic fields to marque a centimetre oregon millimetre-sized robot divided into a radical of smaller, millimetre oregon micrometre-sized robots. Another accommodation of the magnetic tract directed the parts to merge backmost into one.

Pietro Valdastri astatine the University of Leeds successful the UK says that this capableness whitethorn beryllium a “game changer”, arsenic a diligent could swallow a drug-carrying robot that could past divided wrong of them, possibly successful their gastrointestinal tract, truthful that each tiny robotic droplet could present medicine to a circumstantial place. Bradley Nelson astatine the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology successful Zurich says different usage whitethorn beryllium successful removing humor clots successful the encephalon that origin strokes, but adds that creating a beardown capable magnetic tract to precisely determination the robot wrong the encephalon would beryllium challenging.

Using the caller robot successful medicine is plausible but precise apt acold disconnected successful the future, says Hamidreza Marvi astatine Arizona State University. He says it could find much contiguous usage successful lab-on-a-chip devices wherever chemic processes specified arsenic investigating for viruses are carried retired successful a precise tiny space. In these situations, the ferrofluid robots could present chemicals indispensable for reactions.

Journal reference: Science Advances, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq1677