Researchers have developed a phase-changing material manufactured from wax and foam that is capable of switching from hard and soft states.

The material was developed by Anette Hosoi, a professor of mechanical engineering and applied mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and her colleagues.

Hosi believes the material could be used to build deformable surgical robots.

"This material is self-healing," said Hosoi. "So if you push it too far and fracture the coating, you can heat it and then cool it, and the structure returns to its original configuration."

A study on the material was published in the journal Macromolecular Materials and Engineering.

While working with US-based robotics company Boston Dynamics, the researchers began developing the material as part of a Chemical Robots program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The researchers coated a foam structure in wax to build a material capable of shifting between rigid and squishy states.

The wax coating is able to change from a hard outer shell to a soft surface with moderate heating, according to the release. This can be accomplished by running a wire along each of the coated foam struts and the applying a current to heat up and melt the wax.

Turning off the current again would allow the material to cool down and return to its original state.

Heating the wax this way would also repair any damage sustained, in addition to switching the material to its soft state, according to Hosoi.

In order to build the material, the researchers placed the polyurethane foam in a bath of melted wax. Then they squeezed the foam in order to get it to soak up the wax.

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