Sci-fi fans will understand that the Terminator is nothing but a ruthless killing machine due to its ability to effortlessly heal itself after damage.
Now, engineers at Cornell University in New York may be on the way to recreating this remarkable self-healing ability.
Experts have created a robot capable of detecting when and where it has been damaged and then repairing itself on the spot.
The small, soft robot, which looks like a four-legged starfish, uses light to detect changes to its surface caused by cuts.
The tiny robot, which looks like a starfish, is able to detect when and where it has been damaged and then heal itself
How it works?
For self-healing to work, the robot must be able to identify that there is something that needs fixing.
To do this, the researchers used fiber optic sensors coupled with LED lights capable of detecting small changes on the robot’s surface.
These sensors are combined with a polyurethane urea elastomer that includes hydrogen bonds for rapid chemical cure.
The resulting SHeaLDS—self-healing light guides for dynamic sensing—provides a damage-resistant soft robot that can self-heal from cuts at room temperature without external intervention.
After the researchers punctured one of his legs, the robot was able to detect the damage and heal the cuts.
“Our lab is always trying to make robots more durable and agile so they can work longer with more capabilities,” said Cornell University Professor Rob Shepherd.
“If you make the robots work for a long time, they will accumulate damage. So how can we enable them to repair or deal with this damage?’
Although not indestructible, Shepherd said the new starfish robot — which is only about five inches long — has similar properties to human flesh.
“It doesn’t cure well from burning or things with acid or heat because that will change the chemical properties,” he said.
“But we can do a good job of healing cuts.”
The team’s X-shaped robot crawls like a starfish thanks to compressed air being pumped through its body.
It’s covered with a layer of self-healing fiber optic sensors that are paired with LED lights capable of detecting small changes on its surface.
In fiber optic sensors, light from an LED is sent through a structure called an optical waveguide, which directs the light beam in a specific direction.
Also in the robot is a photodiode that detects changes in light intensity to determine when and where the material is deformed.
For the actual healing process, they used polyurethane urea elastomer for its “skin,” a transparent and elastic material that includes hydrogen bonds.
Terminators are capable of repairing themselves. Arnold Schwarzenegger pictured in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
After the researchers punctured one of his legs, the robot was able to detect the damage and heal the cuts
The soft robot can sweat like humans
Scientists have created robots that ‘sweat’ like humans during heavy tasks to prevent them from overheating.
Researchers have developed a technique that allows machines to “sweat” from the coolant stored around the component responsible for the movement and control of the system.
Robots and machines generate heat as a byproduct during tasks, but this can cause malfunction if not cooled.
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When it is cut, its exposed sides become chemically reactive, triggering the reorganization of interconnected polymer chains so that it heals.
The researchers say their so-called SHeaLDS technology – “self-healing light guides for dynamic sensing” – enables a damage-resistant soft robot that can self-heal from cuts at room temperature without external intervention.
In their experiments, they punctured one of the bot’s legs six times, after which the robot was able to detect the damage, self-heal each cut in about a minute, and continue moving.
The robot can also autonomously adapt its gait based on the damage it has sensed, such as the animal’s “flight response to danger.”
The team now wants to integrate the bot with machine learning algorithms capable of recognizing various “tactile events” that could damage it.
“Combined with advances in artificial intelligence, SHeaLDS presents a path to more durable and adaptive robots,” they say in their paper published in the journal Science Advances.
“Damage intelligence is essential in damage-prone environments such as spacesuits and supersonic parachute monitoring in space, as well as applications where device longevity is preferred, such as wearable human-machine interaction devices.”
The robot is covered in a layer of self-healing fiber optic sensors that are paired with LED lights capable of detecting small changes on its surface
Typically, soft robots are constructed from flexible materials inspired by the soft tissues that humans and other organisms are made of.
The problem is that the soft materials used make them susceptible to damage from sharp objects or excessive pressure.
With self-healing, robots could potentially repair soft-body systems in certain environments, such as spacesuits hit by space debris or underwater equipment.
Further development of the technology could also allow Terminator-style killer robots built for the battlefield to repair damage sustained in battle.
Soft robots mimic living tissue to allow them to better perform human tasks
Soft robots are systems built from materials with mechanical properties similar to those of living tissues.
#Soft robots are constructed from flexible materials inspired by the soft tissues that humans and many other organisms are made of.
Their versatility allows them to be used for a wide variety of applications, from gripping delicate and soft objects in the food industry to performing minimally invasive surgery.
They can also play an important role in creating realistic prosthetics.
However, soft materials make them susceptible to damage from sharp objects or excessive pressure.
Damaged components must then be replaced to prevent the robot from ending up on the scrap heap.
In 2017, experts at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) said they had created a synthetic skin that aims to mimic nature’s self-healing abilities, allowing robots to recover from “wounds” sustained in the course of their duties.
Professor Bram Vanderborg from BruBotics VUB, who is working on the plastic, said: “The research result reveals promising prospects.
“Not only can robots be made lighter and safer, they will also be able to operate independently for longer without requiring constant repair.”
To create their synthetic flesh, the scientists used gel-like polymers that melt into each one together when heated and then cooled.
When damaged, these materials first recover their original shape and then heal completely.
This principle is implemented in three self-healing robotic components; gripper, robot arm and artificial muscle.
These elastic pneumatic components were damaged under controlled conditions to test whether the scientific principle works in practice.
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