The excellent motion performance of gallium-based liquid metals (LMs) upon the application of a modest electric field has provided a new opportunity for the development of autonomous soft robots. However, the locomotion of LMs often appears in an alkaline solution, which hampers the application under other different conditions. In this work, a novel robot arm is designed to transfer the motion of the LM from an alkaline solution in a synchronous drive mode. The liquid metal droplet (LMD) at the bottom of the robot arm is actuated using a DC voltage to provide the driving force for the system. By introducing an end effector at the center of the robot arm, the synchronous motion of the system is replicated and can be applied to different situations. The theoretical understanding of continuous electrowetting (CEW) at the LM interface is explained, and then the motion performance of the robot arm against the function of the applied voltage and driving direction is investigated. Moreover, several applications using this robot arm, such as pattern drawing, cargo transportation, and drug concentration detection, are demonstrated. The presented robot arm has the potential to observably expand the application fields of the LM.

中文翻译：

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机械臂从碱性溶液转移液态金属液滴运动

镓基液态金属（LM）在施加适度电场后的优异运动性能为自主软机器人的发展提供了新的机遇。然而，LMs 的运动经常出现在碱性溶液中，这阻碍了在其他不同条件下的应用。在这项工作中，设计了一种新型机器人手臂，以同步驱动模式从碱性溶液中转移 LM 的运动。机器人手臂底部的液态金属液滴 (LMD) 使用直流电压驱动，为系统提供驱动力。通过在机器人手臂的中心引入一个末端执行器，系统的同步运动被复制并且可以应用于不同的情况。解释了 LM 界面连续电润湿 (CEW) 的理论理解，然后研究了机器人手臂的运动性能对施加电压和驱动方向的影响。此外，还演示了使用该机械臂的多种应用，例如图案绘制、货物运输和药物浓度检测。提出的机器人手臂有可能显着扩大 LM 的应用领域。