New Robot Chameleon able to blend into its surroundings

A robot that changes color depending on its environment. This is the latest breakthrough by Chinese team of the University of Wuhan. This 3D printed robot uses tiny screens in order to merge into its surroundings, claims New Scientist magazine.

The robot's changing of color relies on interractions between the magnetical field and those screens, made from glass sheets. A grid of 50 nanometers wholes was made on each sheet, in which gold was placed.

In order to mimic the chameleon's capacity to blend into its surroundings, Professor Guoping Wang's team had the screen equipped with sensors capable of recognising background's colors. A magnetic field is sent back depending on the perceived colour. For now, sensors are only able to recognise primary colours. However, an upcoming progress has already been foreseen:"If the increased sensors can be miniaturiazed, we may be able to apply this sort of camouflage to military purposes", said Wang.