Spot the robot: An artificial chameleon holes up amidst flowers and foliage without camouflage, in monochromatic mode or with pops of color matching the hues in the background. The researchers demonstrated that the robot can hide effectively against a backdrop of leaves and flowers it gives off tiger-like stripes by activating several heater patterns at once. The resulting robot can color-match its environment within half a second as it tromps along the floor. A device tucked inside the robot keeps the heating temperature in check to hold the colors steady. The sensors relay the color information back to the robot’s control unit, which cranks up the heaters to best match the colors and markings on the floor. Up to ten color sensors sit on the underbelly of the robot to take stock of the hues beneath the robot’s feet. So, the researchers stacked prepatterned heater strips under the fake lizard’s skin. The liquid crystals change their orientation-and their color-based on temperature. A larger repeating arrangement gives reddish tints. The size of the structures dictates the color displayed. When these particles assemble into larger helical structures, they can reflect a specific color of light. To construct the robot’s coat of many colors, the researchers made a “skin” using a thin glaze of liquid crystal ink that can take on any color, depending on the alignment of its molecules. “It is not necessary to match the background perfectly,” says study author Sukjoon Hong, a mechanical engineer at Hanyang University, “because as as it is complex enough, then we can get sufficient amount of. The combination of these pre-patterned dots, stripes and curlicues capture the complexity of most backgrounds for the robot to execute its great disappearing act. To copy this capability, the researchers give the skin several patterns to choose from, each which can flash on or off independently. The skin doesn’t exactly mirror a nearby background, but even real-life chameleons shift their shades not to reflect their surroundings, but to blend in. doi: 10.1038/ncomms7368.In addition to different colors, the robot can display several preprogrammed patterns on its exterior. Photonic crystals cause active colour change in chameleons. Teyssier J., Saenko S.V., van der Marel D. By contrast, when the male chameleon wants to attract a female or challenge a competitor stretches the skin and guanine nanocrystals are separated and reflected light red or yellow. When the chameleon is in relaxation guanine nanocrystals form a dense mesh and reflected light blue. This process occurs within a couple of minutes and is fully reversible.Īccording to the researchers, complex and rapid variations of chameleons color are due chameleons shift colour through active tuning of a lattice of guanine nanocrystals within a superficial thick layer of their skin. In other words, one could say that chameleons have “a crystal dress”. The results of the research, based on the study of Panther Chameleon (Furcifer pardalis), indicate that although chameleons of both sexes and all ages can strongly modulate the brightness of the skin, for example in response to stress, adult males are additionally characterized both by exceptionally large intraspecific colour variation (with various combinations of white, red, green and blue skin) and their ability to rapidly change colour (hue). Indeed, when encountering a male competitor or a potentially receptive female, a mature male panther chameleon can shift the background colour of its skin from green to yellow or orange, whereas blue patches turn whitish and red becomes brighter with less conspicuous hue modifications. The research team of Laboratory of Artificial & Natural Evolution, University of Geneva, led by Michel Milinkovitch, published this year in the Nature Communications Journal their latest findings on the dynamic color change of chameleons.
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