South Korean scientists have managed to produce artificial leather that provides invisibility in a kind of camouflage feature. Collecting ambient temperature data, the skin adapts to the surrounding colors in seconds.
South Korean researchers have designed a kind of artificial leather, fabric that provides invisibility, in a kind of camouflage feature. The leather has a feature that activates heating and cooling to mimic the colors of the surrounding environment, which can switch from one to another in just five seconds.
Designed as individually pixelated displays, leather collects ambient temperature data so that it can transform independently from red to green, from Green to blue.
CRUCIAL FOR DEFENSE INDUSTRY
The developed skin gives soldiers invisibility power on the battlefield, making them undetectable by thermal imaging cameras.
The skin project, developed in patches, is currently in the early stages. But it has been announced that the devices use a special micro camera that allows them to respond autonomously to the surrounding area, that is, adapt.
The team that developed the artificial skin acknowledges that they were inspired by the extraordinary ability of cephalopods such as chameleons to hide in any background.
The patches that make up the skin can bend and adapt to the various curvature of the skin, allowing the user to wear them as artificial skin. Pixelated displays line patches and consist of a thermoelectric unit that cools or heats by applying reverse electric current.
TESTS SUCCESSFUL
The research team placed a patch on a human to test wearable devices and applied it against a background of different colors and temperatures. The study observed that “the pixels in the imperceptible artificial skin are rapidly adapted to the background environment, one by one, precisely enough to appear as if there was an empty hole in the hand.
For another show, patches were placed on a person's cheeks in the background of the bushes. The leather area covered by the device matches the background and appears to be an extension of the camouflage patterned military uniform.
The team that developed the project continues to conduct experiments to fully operate the skin in all types of climates. “This problem can be solved by adding a suitable thermal insulator... but it can also cause performance to change, which means that more experiments need to be done before the device is fully completed,” said Seung Whan Ko of Seoul National University.