MIT Scientists create Shape-Shifting material

[seeder]

Shape-Shifting Robot: MIT Scientists Use 3D-Printing, Polyurethane Foam for T-1000-Like Creation

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a new material that can make shape-shifting robots like the T-1000 in Terminator 2 a reality.

The shape-shifting material was created from 3D-printing and through a combination of wax and polyurethane foam, according to Mashable. The research team behind the material developed a way to cover the foam in wax and then heat and cool specific parts so that the material could switch between being hard and soft.

The technology was developed by MIT Professor Anette Hosoi, former MIT graduate student Nadia Cheng, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Dynamics and Self-Organization and researchers at Stony Brook University. Hosoi and Cheng were looking to create a robot that was similar to a snake, capable of moving through a one-centimeter hole and still able to move around after coming out the other side.

http://www.hngn.com/...ke-creation.htm

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Edited July 16, 2014 by seeder