The newly invented material can be automatically assembled and placed inside the robot body and can be operated as a stand-alone component. It consists of a sphere that automatically adjusts to the appropriate shape after entering the electric field. In the future, this material can be used to build a robot army that is gritty and simple.
This research is the result of a group of scientists from the Ulsan University of Science and Technology in Korea. This international research team was inspired by the swarming and collective behavior of bees and ants. They copied this behavior in the laboratory using a computer model and completed the preliminary design. This self-driven material called “Janus Colloids†adjusts its state at will once it enters the electric field.  
The scientists, led by Dr. Erik Luijten of Northwestern University, published the research paper in "Natural Materials". They wrote: Thanks to symmetry breaking, we use two poles that can swim in the water. Hemispheric Janus Colloids replaces self-driven prototype synthetic materials.
Janus Colloids has two positive and negative electrodes. Because of the symmetry breaking, when the Collids are exposed to the electric field, the electrodes will change, causing an electromagnetic response between different Collids. This means that some particles are repulsive, some particles attract, and some particles remain neutral. Therefore, these hemispheres can naturally change their form, such as chain, hemispherical or lumps. Currently, this material has been tested in both computer models and Janus Colloids' two-dimensional systems. Scientists hope to make a three-dimensional prototype to show how this material is used in practice.
The team is imagining that this material will promote the delivery of drugs in the body sometime in the future. They think that medicines can be placed inside the sphere and they can be assembled automatically when the body needs them. This material can be either an individual, or it can be used to create a self-forming robot or even an army.
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