Octopus-Inspired Camouflage Tech Built By Scientists For Hiding In Plain Sight

Scientists have developed an artificial version of cells found in octopuses and squids that allow them to camouflage in their surroundings and disappear instantly.

University of Pennsylvania

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Developed by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, they take inspiration from chromatophores -- special cells in octopuses and squids that can expand and retract internal reflective plates in response to external stimuli and allow these molluscs to hide with the surrounding environment.

Engineers made use of thin, flexible membranes developed from a polymer network of liquid crystals to build an artificial chromatophore that can change colours instantly from near IR (infrared) to visible ultraviolet.

The membranes have been placed over small crevices arranged in a grid-like form. Each of these can be inflated to a precise pressure and as a cavity inflates, the membrane stretches, reducing its thickness, causing a shift in the visible colour.

The concept of colour-changing materials isn¡¯t new. Previously mechanisms would require deformation of around 75 percent to shift colours. However, the new technology requires pressure similar to that of a gentle touch to shift colours to anything that¡¯s currently in the spectrum.

Researchers claim that the newer tech since it requires just 20 percent of deformation can be arranged like pixels in an LCD monitor.

Study lead-author Shu Yang explained, ¡°In looking at how some animals have evolved structural colour, we realised they had stretchy cells that worked like pixels in a display and that we could potentially take a similar approach.¡±

Yang explains that the technology is based on the phenomenon that gives peacock feathers or butterfly wings their shine. It is a phenomenon of structural colour that occurs when light interacts with microscopic features of a surface and researchers have recreated this using liquid crystal.

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When a cavity in the display gets inflated, its membrane is stretched. This reduces the pitch of the liquid crystal within the membrane and laters the wavelength of the light reflected at the one looking.

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By recording the exact pressure needed to get each of the artificial chromatophores to a desired colour, engineers could program them just like pixels on a display.

Study co-author Kim Se-Um further added, ¡°I wanted to generate red, green and blue colour simultaneously in a simple operation, so I connected cavities of different widths to the same air channel. This means that, despite experiencing the same pressure, the degree of deformation and the colour varies from pixel to pixel, reducing the complexity of the overall device.¡±

They concluded by stating, ¡°These soft materials may find uses in distinct applications such as cryptography, adaptive optics and soft robotics.¡±

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