A magnetic slime robotic that drew comparisons to the Marvel character Venom might navigate by slim passages and repair damaged circuits
Know-how
20 December 2022
A gooey, magnetic slime robotic that may squirm by slim passages, grasp objects and repair damaged circuits captured the imaginations of science fiction followers worldwide earlier this yr, drawing comparisons to the Marvel character Venom, and introduced its creators an unprecedented quantity of curiosity.
“I didn’t anticipate to obtain a lot consideration from the media after the New Scientist report,” says Li Zhang on the Chinese language College of Hong Kong. Within the days after its publication, Zhang was contacted by journalists from internationally, in addition to by a number of intrigued traders who puzzled concerning the potential monetary rewards of growing the robotic additional.
Zhang’s group now intends to discover utilizing the robotic as a “third hand” for surgeons, the place it might help with duties like making use of strain and holding collectively tissue within the intestine.
One downside is that the magnetic slime can begin to dissolve in moist situations just like the human physique, so Zhang’s group is investigating different substances that may last more and stop hazardous magnetic supplies leaching out.
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