Biomimetic chameleon soft robot with artificial crypsis and disruptive coloration skin

Abstract

Development of an artificial camouflage at a complete device level remains a vastly challenging task, especially under the aim of achieving more advanced and natural camouflage characteristics via high-resolution camouflage patterns. Our strategy is to integrate a thermochromic liquid crystal layer with the vertically stacked, patterned silver nanowire heaters in a multilayer structure to overcome the limitations of the conventional lateral pixelated scheme through the superposition of the heater-induced temperature profiles. At the same time, the weaknesses of thermochromic camouflage schemes are resolved in this study by utilizing the temperature-dependent resistance of the silver nanowire network as the process variable of the active control system. Combined with the active control system and sensing units, the complete device chameleon model successfully retrieves the local background color and matches its surface color instantaneously with natural transition characteristics to be a competent option for a next-generation artificial camouflage.

Integrated 3D printing of flexible electroluminescent devices and soft robots

“…Ionically conductive species are essential in EL devices [4][5][6] . Here, the 3DP ICE samples exhibited good ionic conductivity, attributed to the formation of specific ion-rich nano-channels that facilitated ion diffusion (i.e., EMES ionic liquid) in the complex of PAA and poly(DMAPS) polyzwitterions 28 .…”

“…The advent of flexible and stretchable electroluminescent (EL) electronics has enabled technological advances in myriad applications, such as information encryption [1][2][3] , smart electronic skins [4][5][6][7][8] , soft robotics [9][10][11] , and optical communication 12,13 . Among these electroluminescent devices, alternating current EL (ACEL) devices are arguably one of the most suitable candidates for developing stretchable devices 14 .…”

A review of tunable photonics: Optically active materials and applications from visible to terahertz

“…Furthermore, previous researches emphasized that not only color matching between background and object but also various disruptive patterns are important for effective camouflage ( Stevens and Merilaita, 2009 ). Furthermore, the expression of disruptive patterns was presented through the thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC) based on the Ag nanowire (NW) heater ( Kim et al., 2021b ). When the current is applied to the NWs, Joule heating occurred thus the cholesteric pitch of TLC is changed, resulting in color manipulation.…”

A Shift from Efficiency to Adaptability: Recent Progress in Biomimetic Interactive Soft Robotics in Wet Environments

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 323 ] Copyright 2021, Springer Nature. c) a transparent hydrogel robotic fish to camouflage when moving over rainbow‐colored background.…”