A robot made of liquid metal, similar to the one in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, can change states on its own. TriStar Pictures
Have you ever lost something in a hard-to-reach space, like behind a couch or a cupboard? Wouldn’t it be nice to just be able to squeeze in and out? New innovations in the field of robotics will soon be able to make this nice idea into a reality.
你有没有把东西丢在过一个很难够到的地方，比如沙发或橱柜后面？如果身体能挤进挤出，把东西够出来不就好了吗？机器人领域的新发明很快能让这个美好的想法变成现实。
In a study published on Jan 25 in the science journal Matter, engineers from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Carnegie Mellon University in the US have developed small robots that can quickly change back and forth from liquid to solid states.
在1月25日发表于材料领域期刊《Matter》上的一项研究中，来自香港中文大学和美国卡耐基梅隆大学的工程师研发出了可以快速从液态转为固态的小型机器人。
According to the website Mashable, the scientists were inspired by sea cucumbers. They are able to change the stiffness of their body or reduce the potential for physical damage. The robots in the study were made from gallium, a soft metal with a low melting point of 30 C. The scientists then used changes in the magnetic field to manipulate the magnetic particles inside the gallium material to provide heat. This heat then allowed the robots to change between solid and liquid states as well as to move around.
据美国科技网站Mashable报道，研究团队以海参为灵感，因海参能够改变身体硬度，减少可能受到的潜在物理损害。该研究中的机器人由镓制成，镓是一种软金属，其熔点低至约30摄氏度。随后，研究人员利用磁场变化，操纵镓金属里的磁性粒子来提供热量，而加热让机器人得以在固态和液态之间转换，还可以四处移动。
As the website Tech Xplore pointed out, other similar materials require external heat sources such as heat guns and electrical currents to induce a change of states; but now, the robots can use a heat source inside itself to change states independently.
据美国科技网站Tech Xplore指出，其他类似的材料需要借助如热风枪、电流等外部热源引发形态转换；但现在，机器人可以利用自身内部的热源独立改变形态。
During the robots’ experimental trials, the scientists conducted a number of tests. These tests included having the robots melt into liquid and re-form to escape a prison-like cage. It can remove a foreign object from and deliver medicinal drugs to a model stomach. The robot is also able to build and repair hard-to-reach circuits. The robots’ ability to switch between states of matter allows for a number of possible uses and advancements in different fields, such as the biomedical and circuit assembly industries.
在机器人的试验阶段，研究人员进行了一系列测试，包括让机器人熔化成液体并重新变形，以逃离一个类似监狱的笼子；用这类机器人清除胃模型中的异物，并将作药物输送到模型胃；还用它来修建难以触及的电路。该机器人能够在不同物态间切换，以此为诸如生物医学和电路组装行业等不同领域，提供了许多潜在用途和推动力。
Still, in the words of senior author Carmel Majidi at Carnegie Mellon University, for now these are all just “proofs of concept” which show the abilities of these new kinds of robots.
不过，据卡耐基梅隆大学高级研究员卡梅尔·马吉迪表示，目前这些都只是“概念验证”，仅仅展现了这些新型机器人的能力。
以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报》高二896期
