In a move that feels like it’s been lifted straight from a Hollywood storyboard, researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have unveiled a robotic hand featuring a shapeshifting palm that can liquefy, mould itself around an object, and then set rock-solid for a perfect grip. The inspiration? None other than the iconic T-1000 from Terminator 2.
Developed at EPFL’s Reconfigurable Robotics Lab, led by Professor Jamie Paik, the four-fingered hand tackles a long-standing headache in the world of robotics: how to securely grasp unfamiliar or awkwardly shaped objects. The solution is as elegant as it is extreme. The hand’s palm is crafted from a low-melting-point alloy (LMPA)—a clever blend of bismuth, indium, and tin—that turns to liquid at a mere 60°C. When the robot needs to get a grip, an embedded heating element turns the palm into a malleable slush. The fingers then wrap around the target, allowing the liquid metal to conform perfectly to the object’s contours before cooling back into a rigid, ultra-secure state.
The design’s real stroke of genius is its thermal management. To speed up the cooling and solidification process, the entire hand can detach from the robotic arm and be plunged into a water bath. Once it’s regained its rigidity, the arm retrieves the hand, which is then capable of handling everything from delicate items to heavy loads up to 40 times its own weight. This research, published in the prestigious journal Science Robotics, showcases a brilliant fusion of soft robotics and traditional rigid engineering.
Why does this matter?
This Terminator-esque hand represents a massive leap toward a truly universal gripper. For years, robotic hands have been a compromise: soft grippers are adaptable but lack “oomph,” while rigid pincers are strong but hopelessly clumsy with irregular shapes. By employing a phase-changing material, the EPFL team has built a system that is both infinitely adaptable and incredibly sturdy. This technology could be a game-changer for everything from logistics centres, where robots must juggle a chaotic variety of products, to advanced prosthetics and even high-stakes missions to clear “space junk” from orbit.
