Robots are increasingly taking over the roles and jobs that humans commonly do manually. Now let's get this slime robot inside you to go rooting around and see what it can find.
The Guardian reports that Li Zhang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and his research team developed this robot out of polyvinyl alcohol, borax, and neodymium particles. It can be manipulated magnetically to navigate narrow confines of machines or bodies to perform repairs or extract foreign objects.
The magnetic particles are toxic, so Zhang explains that it will be necessary to develop a silica coating for the slime before using it inside human bodies. Adding pigments may make the robot more pleasant to look at.
Certainly improving the appearance of what has been called a "magnetic turd" could make it easier for future times when the use of it inside human bodies becomes permissible and, later, mandatory
-via David Burge