Watch As This Oozing Liquid Robot Breaks Out Of Jail By Passing Through Bars

The robot is not self-propelled but it is moved using acoustic radiation – namely ultrasound. And with that, this gumdrop robot can do a variety of things. It can freely deform, divide, merge, and even engulf alien substances and carry them away. The researchers are calling it a Particle-armored liquid roBot (PB).

PB works in an ingenious way. The liquid is surrounded by so many superhydrophobic particles that the sheer number has been described as excessive – but the overabundance is actually key to what this robot can do.

“We have reported particle-armored liquid robots (PBs), an innovative class of liquid robot that captures the dynamic capabilities and structural resilience of biological cells, despite differences in size and the dominant forces at work,” the researchers wrote in a paper describing the robot. “By substantially enhancing the ratio of hydrophobic particle mass to liquid volume, PBs exhibit remarkable structural stability under various stress conditions.”

“Using acoustic radiation force for movement control, PBs have shown proficiency in various functions, such as navigating intricate environments, engulfing and transporting cargoes, crossing water and land boundaries, and seamlessly merging to adapt to new operational requirements. These capabilities will greatly increase the utility of robots in unpredictable and dynamically changing environments.”

Previous approaches called liquid marbles were able to demonstrate a lot of similar abilities. They could move and float, climb and merge, open shells, and even create chemical reactions. However, they were severely limited; collapse and leakage were common, especially in the case of thermal or mechanical changes.

With PB, the team demonstrated that the liquid robot can pass through jail bars, like Robert Patrick’s T-1000 in Terminator 2. It can also roll on water without breaking apart, grab and move material, merge with other PBs in proximity, and even fall from a small height, all without collapsing until it is necessary.

Each of those functions has been demonstrated, but the team wanted to showcase that it is indeed a robot, by completing a complex task. “We demonstrate the PB’s superior capability as a liquid robot by setting the following virtual mission. A hazardous material in a hidden place must be retrieved, neutralized with its antidote, and then collected by a safe container,” the researchers wrote. All of this can be seen in the video.

The PB is an important step toward miniature machines that behave more like cells, the researchers say, with potential biomedical applications such as tumor cell destruction and drug delivery.

The paper is published in the journal Science Advances.