The liquid metal machine invented by Chinese scientists and once praised as T-1000 robot in sci-fi thriller Terminator now can "jump" and "run", according to an article posted by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on its WeChat account on Wednesday.
It briefed about the new discoveries on liquid metal made by a joint team of scientists from CAS and Tsinghua University that were published in global academic journals this year.
One of their academic papers titled "Liquid Metal Machine Triggered Violin-like Wire Oscillator" appeared as the cover story in the Aug 17 issue of Advanced Science.
The paper discovered that the first-ever oscillation phenomenon of a copper wire embracing inside a self-powered liquid metal machine. When the copper wire contacted the liquid metal, it would be swallowed inside and then reciprocally move back and forth, just like a violin bow.
Before this, liquid metal machine all appeared in liquid state so technical breakthroughs in combination with a solid metal and new discoveries on oscillation can give a boost to research and development of flexible machines.
