Camo Chameleon | Alien Blob | Chain Mail - The Convo Kit #10

Welcome to a top 10 issue of The Convo Kit! Enjoy reading the top 5 stories of the week.

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Camo Chameleon

Researchers in South Korea created a robot that automatically changes color to blend in. The chameleon-bot heats special ink to change color based on optical sensors.

• Can mimic dots and stripes to match patterns

• Partial shifting enables multi-color displays

• Nano-wires provide heating beneath the “skin”

Camouflage has its obvious advantages, both in nature and military tech. Programming color response to thermal changes may have use in other fields. Imagine clothing or buildings adjusting color based on temperature.

Chameleon-bot moves more like a duck. Watch the waddle.

Alien Blob

Physarum polycephalum is a single-cell slime that defies earthly classification. So we sent it to the International Space Station. The blob is not an animal, plant, or fungus, yet it can grow, move, and learn on its own.

• 720 sexes

• Solves mazes

• In ~4,500 French schools

The blob is currently dehydrated in a dormant state called “sclerotia”. Four sclerotia will be activated on the ISS to observe how this flubber-wannabe reacts to zero-gravity. 350,000 students across France will also perform this experiment while the rest of us debate sci-fi doomsday scenarios.

Take a look at the blob on Nerdist.

Perfect Chain Mail Doesn’t Exi...

Caltech and NTU created a fabric capable of drastically changing its rigidity. The chain mail look-a-like consists of 3D-printed triangular shapes that "jam" together on command.

• Supports 50x its weight

• Material: Plastic or aluminum 

• Partially inspired by Batman’s cape

Versatile fabrics like this could improve wearable technology in the near future. Early adopters are likely to include protective equipment such as bulletproof vests or athletic padding.

Not sure if it can dodge a wrench, but it can catch/deflect a ball.

Made in Space

Varda Space Industries will send mini-factories to space in 2023. A capsule capable of producing earthbound items will launch aboard Rocket Lab's partially 3D-printed Photon spacecraft.

• Photon's orbital payload: 88 lbs.

• Photon assembly time: 20 days

• 3 missions will produce 220 lbs. of material 

Varda aims to eventually produce a wide array of products at scale, in space. Zero-gravity manufacturing offers benefits for a variety of materials. Example: Fiber-optic cables made in space will be more efficient due to fewer gravity induced crystal-defects.

Images of the Photon on Interesting Engineering.

Strykers With Lasers

The US Army field tested its vehicle mounted laser weapon on a Stryker support vehicle. The Directed Energy-Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense system defends against increasing automated threats.

• DE M-SHORAD...for short

• Power: 50-kW

• Cheap Ammo: $1 per “pew pew”

Direct energy, aka laser, technology is becoming increasingly practical. Soldiers trained using VR suggested swapping controls with video game controllers. Looking forward to buying…uh, covering the inevitable Xbox Elite-Army Mil-spec controller. 

Check out the Stryker over on New Atlas.

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