A latest phase-changing material developed by Anette Hosoi, a professor of mechanical engineering and applied mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is such that it covers a way for deformable surgical robots to move through the body to reach the target location without causing any damage.

The technique can find application in surgical procedures whereby the robots could move through the body to reach a particular point without damaging any of the organs or vessels along the way but, also it can be expected that such robots located at scenes of disaster will find their way in and out of rubble looking for survivors by push through heaps of rubble or break any barrier.

This phase-changing material is built from wax and will be so used to make robots that will be flexible and also have sufficient strength at the same time. To control a soft structure and also predict what shapes it will take was very challenging for the team this is the reason for opting for a material that could switch from soft to hard i.e. a foam structure coated in wax.

Foam structure coated in wax would be used in a way that foam ensures pliability and the wax allows modification under heating. This wax coating will then be replaced by a stronger material such as solder. To replace this wax it will be heated by using electricity.

Working on this idea and generating 3D images researchers were able to analyse the structure and also study the position of each pore and strut on the foam.

The paper that covered all the above research aspects was published in the journal Macromolecular Materials and Engineering.