One of the challenges in the field of robotics is to find new materials that can be both flexible and strong to build new robots out of. There is constant innovation in the field and now engineers at Cornell University have created a hybrid material featuring stiff metal and soft, porous rubber foam that combines the best properties of both. The material can be stiff when required and elastic when needed. It even has self healing properties.

The metal – foam compound is sort of like the human body with skeletons and muscles said Rob Shepherd the engineering professor involved with the project. The idea blends the rigidity and load-bearing capacity of humans with the ability to dramatically alter shape, like an octopus said Shepherd. When you need the rigidity of the skeleton it is available and then it can be dissolved only to be reformed when next needed.

The material’s ability to morph from the solid to elastic states will give engineers a great deal of levy when constructing robots out of it. Imagine a rigid aircraft with wings which can dissolve and become a submarine? The possibilities of using the new material are too many to list. Only time and new science projects will introduce us to the true scope of the new hybrid material.