Are Liquid Robots a Marketing Gimmick or the Future of Automation?

The concept of liquid robots promises to transform robotics and automation in several ways, one of which is reducing the power consumption required to keep robots running.

Over the past few decades, robots have become smaller and smaller. After humanoid robots brought the convenience of robotics and automation into smart homes, the emergence of micro-swarm robots and nanorobots made cognitive automation more flexible and efficient. Now, the emergence of stretchable liquid robots takes robotics into a new and uncharted territory. Liquid Robots is an ultra-futuristic concept that will attempt to solve a familiar problem, such as the large amounts of electricity consumed by industrial robot-based operations. Additionally, liquid robots can optimize specific operations by introducing robotics and automation into small spaces.

Reduce industrial electricity consumption

Liquid robots provide an ideal scenario for industrial robots and automation, that is, robots can work continuously without consuming any power. Researchers in Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division developed one such example. Liquid robots, known as "liquid robots," can harvest energy from surrounding objects and media. This power enables the robot to move continuously and perform tasks such as extracting chemicals from the seafloor and bringing them to the surface. Apart from this, they can also be used for tasks like moving goods or products through conveyor belts during manufacturing operations. According to the robot's developers, the liquid robot's buoyancy is continuously maintained through multiple chemical reactions.

Optimizing operations in small spaces

##2017, Swansea University and Sussex University researchers have developed a liquid metal entity that is infinitely malleable. The entity can be controlled remotely by charging. Dynamic computer programs can be used to control entities. In a groundbreaking soft robotics invention, solid objects can be transformed into several two-dimensional shapes to fit into any type of hollow space or gap. This makes it useful for tasks that involve operating in tight and hazardous spaces.

There are currently several types of liquid robots in the concept stage. One of them is a liquid robot made of the chemical gallium, which also has the ability to power itself. . Future industrial and domestic operations are likely to mainly involve liquid robots, as the benefits they bring to such processes are so numerous without any drawbacks.

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