Terminator T-1000 Prototype is Here

The T-1000 is a terrifying, shape-shifting liquid-metal robot from Terminator 2. It is capable of transforming into anything, and it can pass through any small opening. This is one of those science fiction ideas, that seems impossible and made-up. But as we know, science-fiction has the potential to become real in the future. It turns out that this is the case.

This amazing discovery was made by a group of scientists in Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. They took a drop of gallium, which is liquid just under 30ºC, added some indium and tin, and placed it in sodium hydroxide, a liquid similar to salt water. Then, they dropped a flake of aluminum on the liquid-metal droplet. It immediately began to bubble, and started spinning really fast — so fast that it started moving on its own. So they thought, where can we use this? Well, it turns out that there are two main usages.

The first is transportation. Because the metal is a liquid, it can bend and adjust to the path that it's travelling in. By path, I mean like pipes. These droplets can move through twisted, thin pipes with ease. This can be useful when we want to transport things to places with hard access. We can create a larger droplet that can carry supplies inside, and they will be able to reach these places by morphing themselves.

The second is pumping. If we keep the droplet in place, it will keep spinning in place — the liquid around it will move instead of the droplet. This means that we can create smaller circuits without the need for a huge pump. We just need to drop one of these droplets inside! For example, we could make a cooling device without the need for a power supply. We just add the droplet, feed it with aluminum, and it works automatically!

We also succeeded in making shapes with this droplet. We apply a little current, and depending on the current, the droplet will change shape. As long as the current's there, the shape remains. The scientists made a tree-like shape, but it wasn't that precise because they didn't know how to handle it properly. If we find out the proper way to do this, we could make it look like a tree, a cloud, or anything we imagine.

This is just the entry step of making a T-1000. We can't really call it prototype. However, as we keep investigating, we might really be able to make robots that can change shape on the fly. We just need to know how this works. That means, there is still a whole lot of potential. Will we be able to actually create a T-1000? I believe, some day, yes.