Scientists have designed plenty of devices that can pick up solid objects. Big mechanical claws can lift cars. Small claws can pluck prizes from a glass box in an arcade game. But these new pluckers can lift something else entirely — a liquid.
Engineers have built the first flexible grippers that can pick up and move a single drop of liquid. The device is made of flexible pincers. Each is about the size and shape of a finger. Experimental tests showed that the pair can scoop up droplets as small as 2 millimeters (0.08 inch) across.
Such a device might help scientists safely handle biological fluids, such as blood or saliva, says Arun Kota. That task could be particularly useful in laboratories where samples are tested for signs of COVID-19, flu or other contagious diseases. Kota is a mechanical engineer at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He worked on these new grippers.
“Infectious fluids are a huge problem right now,” he says. “Could we use these robots as a sort of protective shield?”
His team described its new device in the November issue of Materials Horizons. They showed that the pincers not only work but can also be made from low-cost materials, such as ordinary double-stick tape. The grippers work with any kind of droplets. Still in the testing phase, they’re not ready for real-world use just yet.
Engineering something novel
The new device combines tech from two fields of engineering. One is soft robotics. Unlike robots made from hard and clunky materials such as metal, soft robots are made from squishy stuff. Mechanical engineer Jianguo Zhao, another scientist who worked on the device, develops soft robots. He works at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
The other field is materials science, Kota’s area of expertise. More than 10 years ago, he started studying materials that are hydrophobic (Hy-droh-FOH-bik) — meaning water-repellent. Back then, he too worked at Colorado State…
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