Professor Carmel Majidi and Ph.D. candidate Eric Markvicka have created a material with unique properties and potential applications in medicine, humanoid robotics, and textiles. Composed of liquid metal microdroplets inside of a silicone elastomer, this material can stretch with a negligible increase in resistance, undergo temperature cycling, and automatically heal itself with no loss of functionality when damaged. Funded by projects supported by NASA and the US Air Force, the work being done by Majidi and Markvicka has already generated interest by companies in the electronics, aerospace, and automotive industries. The first commercial integration of this technology will likely be in textiles and wearable computing and could be expected to roll out within a year. Stay up-to-date with the latest research at sml.me.cmu.edu
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