In the film "Terminator 2" the villainous "liquid metal" p-1000 assassin-bot was able to change shape so that it could ooze through narrow bars, or turn its extremities into blades. Mark Yim of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC) has more limited and benign ambitions. As he explained to the aaas meeting, rather than building murderous psychotic androids, he is trying to create a robot for use in search and rescue operations, deep-sea mining and space exploration. But like the p-1000, Dr Yim's machine can change its outward form.
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