Are we heading toward the end of mankind?
Over the years, we humans have made robots with incredible strength and artificial intelligence capabilities. But now, we are adding another arrow to their quiver by making them self-healing.
Researchers from the Free University of Brussels have managed to create a self-healing robot by implementing a self-healing polymer into their design. This polymer will allow the robots to repair themselves even if they are cut by a knife.
Worldwide, robotics teams are working on making soft robots that can do jobs that require a gentle touch. But soft, flexible materials have the tendency to break, making them unusable.
In order to solve this issue, researchers have developed a way to create soft, flexible grippers to grasp reliably and an artificial muscle that can heal itself. They made it possible by making use of jelly-like rubbery polymers. These polymers have lots of strands that, when broken, can knit back together with the application of a little heat.
Bram Vanderborght, who led the research, said, “The polymer has lots of different strands that lock together to form the material. When you add heat, they reorganize to stick back together without leaving any weak spots.”
We are surely doomed.
