The golden beetle that changes its color in response to touch is a source of inspiration for applications in the field of sensing
By: Yael Halfman Cohen
The golden beetle is not only beautiful and looks like a jewel, but is also able to change its shiny metallic color when touched. Every time it is touched, its color changes from gold to bright red-orange. The color change also occurs independently without contact in some cases, probably following exposure to external stressors. This feature may be used for protection or communication purposes. In the attached video you can see how the beetle changes its color from gold to red.
The full mechanism to explain the color change is still unclear, but it seems to be related to the structure of the beetle's armor (exoskeleton). The transparent beetle armor is made of several layers of varying thickness and between them are slots and nozzles in a random distribution that create cavities. As the spaces in the upper layers are filled or emptied with liquid, the red lower layers are revealed or hidden respectively.
Changing color in response to changes in environment or touch can have many applications in the world of textiles and sensing.
A group of researchers from MIT, from the Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, proposed an application for touch screens inspired by the golden beetle. Many smart devices such as smartphones or tablets are operated by touch screens and perhaps in the future even larger systems such as cars or robots will be operated using touch-sensitive materials. Flexible and affordable technology is needed in terms of cost to produce materials that react to touch. The researchers at MIT propose to solve the problem with the help of XNUMXD printing technology inspired by the golden beetle.
The researchers chose to produce sensori-motor transitions with the help of XNUMXD printing that incorporates electronic components. They printed a T-shaped device where the base is hard plastic and the other part is flexible plastic with a silver strip along it, which changes its electrical resistance as a function of the stretch that can be created upon contact. The applied mechanism is of course different from the biological mechanism and therefore the development is more a design inspired by nature than an imitation of a biological mechanism.
