Scientists have developed an unusual material that can be rigid when necessary yet soft and moldable when needed. What makes it remarkable is that tiny robots work together to form it, rather than using a traditional material.
Tiny Robots That Act Like a Living Material
While it may sound like science fiction, the concept is surprisingly straightforward. Researchers from UC Santa Barbara and TU Dresden created hockey-puck-sized robots that act as a coordinated, responsive material. As a group, they can shift shape, become solid, flow like a liquid, and even repair themselves.
The team based their design on embryonic development, studying how cells organize and respond to signals to create tissues and organs. By imitating these cellular behaviors, the robots are able to coordinate their actions.
“Embryonic tissues are nature’s ultimate smart materials,” said researcher Otger Campàs. “They can shape themselves, heal, and precisely control their mechanical forces over space and time.”
Much like cells that push, pull, and cling together to shape the body, these robots exert forces on one another, move in sync, and link up to maintain a specific form.
Rather than using muscles, each robot equips itself with eight motorized gears around its edge, maneuvering around neighboring robots and repositioning within confined spaces.
Light sensors coordinate the robots, making them turn together like cells responding to chemical signals. Magnets allow them to connect when necessary, letting the material shift between soft and rigid states.
Small Signal Changes, Big Shifts in Behavior
As the system operated, researchers found that the material’s behavior depended not only on the robots themselves but on variations in their signaling. Subtle differences in movement patterns determined whether the collective acted as a solid structure or flowed like a liquid.
“We had previously shown that in living embryos, variations in the forces produced by cells play a key role in turning solid tissue into fluid tissue,” Campàs said. “So we programmed those force variations into the robots.”
For now, the setup remains a proof of concept involving only a limited number of robots. Researchers believe the system could be scaled and miniaturized for self-assembling structures, smart materials, and medical applications.
Read the original article on: Tempo
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