Today, it’s possible to buy color-changing mugs online that display predetermined patterns, but nothing quite as sophisticated as something that uses new information from the environment to alter itself in real time. Teyssier, J., Saenko, S. V., Van der Marel, D., & Milinkovitch, M. C. (2015). Photonic crystals cause active colour change in chameleons. Nature Communications, 6(1). doi: 10.1038/ncomms7368 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. When these particles assemble into larger helical structures, they can reflect a specific color of light. The size of the structures dictates the color displayed. A larger repeating arrangement gives reddish tints. Tighter arrangements appear blue. Changing colors is not even singularly about camouflage for these lizards. There is growing evidence to suggest that chameleons use it as a way to communicate too. Sometimes, they want to blend into the environment to avoid predators or be inconspicuous to potential prey.

In the future, the researchers aim to build another color changing icon in the animal kingdom with a squirming chassis to match: an octopus. They’ll borrow the design of the artificial chameleon skin to achieve camouflage in their cephalopod. But “it's movement is much more complex than a chameleon,” says Ko, which is where the main engineering challenge lies. With its clunky, segmented body, the robo-chameleon unveiled by South Korean researchers could easily be mistaken for a children’s toy or a real chameleon in body armor. It’s neither. It is, in fact, an embodiment of cutting-edge camouflage technology. This robot has provided hours of hilarious fun and I can see it providing many more as you can hide the magnetic “food” around the house while the children walk their robot around in hunt of their prey. The thermal control of the liquid crystal coat has several limitations, says Steven Morin, a chemist at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. First, he says the skin is easier to heat than to cool down, so it may not switch from a hot color like blue to a cold color like red as fast as it would switch from red to blue. Furthermore, the temperature ranges the robot uses are rather narrow, from room temperature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit to approximately human body temperatures of 97 degrees. And Morin says that the skin color may be affected by its surroundings, especially in chilly weather or under direct sunlight on a hot day. The last button on the remote changes the colour of the LED so that he can blend in with its environment. My favourite is the blue, but it’s fun changing from colour to colour.A robot modeled on a chameleon and developed by South Korean researchers can change colors to match its surroundings. Like real chameleons, the robo-chameleon collects information from its environment in real time, but the way it reproduces the colors on its artificial “skin” is different. If colors and patterns can both be replicated in real time, it could pave the way for clothing that essentially makes the wearer invisible.

Milinkovitch, who was not involved in the new research, called the technology “impressive,” noting that, in some respects, the robo-chameleon could do even more than its wild-born counterparts. We think that if it weren’t for their size, chameleons would get a lot more fame in the animal kingdom. After all, they’re awesome! They’ve got skin that can change colour, eyes that can cover pretty much every angle imaginable, and, of course, elasticated tongues. So, we can completely see why they were the inspiration for the Robo Chameleon!Chameleons can change color thanks to the migration of pigments and the tuning of nanocrystal within specialized cells generating structural colors,” said Michel C. Milinkovitch, an evolutionary geneticist who heads the Laboratory of Artificial & Natural Evolution at the University of Geneva.