When is a liquid not just a liquid? When it’s a robot, according to
researchers at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. They placed a blob of
mercury in a tray studded with electrodes, and used software to vary the
potential at each. The magnetic fields this generates give the computer a degree
of motion control over the blob. “Can such a moving object, that has no sensor,
no actuator and no intelligence within itself be called a `robot’?” the
researchers ask.
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