Slime Magnet Robot: Saving Lives by Grabbing Accidentally Swallowed Objects

A robot made of magnetic slime with a custard-like consistency can navigate narrow passages, grasp objects and fix broken circuits. It could be deployed inside the body to perform tasks such as retrieving objects swallowed by accident.

Elastic robots capable of manipulating objects and fluid-based robots that can navigate tight spaces both already exist, but robots combining both properties are less common.

In a rare incident, scientists have created magnetic slime with the aim of saving people's lives. A video of the same was shared on TikTok by Dr Karan Raj and it has now gone viral. In the video, he explains how this slime can save the lives of human beings. Created by Professor Li Zhang and her colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the slime contains magnetic particles.

However, a freaky breakthrough video shows a soft-bodied robot pulling wires together, enveloping objects like "The Blob," navigating passages as narrow as 1.5 mm and even glomming together after being chopped apart, behaving like mercury from a broken thermometer.