Terminator draws closer with shape-shifting liquid metal motor

[Archean]

Terminator draws closer with shape-shifting liquid metal motor

Using gallium, a metal with a very low melting point, researchers have developed a self-powered, shape-shifting liquid metal motor.



"The soft machine looks rather intelligent and [can] deform itself according to the space it voyages in, just like [the] Terminator does from the science-fiction film," Jing Liu from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, told New Scientist. "These unusual behaviours perfectly resemble the living organisms in nature."

The motor is made of a gallium alloy called galinstan. Gallium has a melting point of 29.76 degrees Celsius (85.57 degrees Fahrenheit). When combined with tin and indium in proportions of 68.5 percent gallium, 21.5 indium and 10 percent tin, the resulting alloy -- galinstan -- has a melting point of -19 degrees Celsius (-2 degrees Fahrenheit). This means it's liquid at room temperature.

When placed in a sodium hydroxide solution and kept in contact with a flake of aluminium it uses as fuel, this drop of liquid can move around on its own for around half an hour.

I guess an just as robust AI will be needed once this mature's into something more useful ....