Scientists build first self-powered ‘liquibots’ that run continuously without electricity
The IndependentThe best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The “liquibot” technology may lead to further developments in automated chemical synthesis or drug delivery systems for pharmaceuticals, say the researchers, including those from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US. In the new research, published in the journal Nature Chemistry, scientists demonstrated the first self-powered liquid robot – which look like little open sacks just 2mm in diameter – that can run continuously on energy from the chemicals in its surroundings instead of electricity. “The cyclic buoyancy-induced cargo shuttling occurs continuously, as long as the supply of reactants diffusing to the sac or droplet from the surrounding aqueous phase is not exhausted,” the scientists noted in the study.
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