Nature, particularly humans and other animals, has always been among the primary sources of inspiration for roboticists. In fact, most existing robots physically resemble specific animals and/or are engineered to tackle tasks by emulating the actions, movements and behaviors of specific species.

One innate ability of some animals that has so far been seldom replicated in robots is shape morphing and camouflaging. Some living organisms, including some insects, octopuses and chameleons, are known to reversibly change their appearance, form and shape in response to their surroundings, whether to hide from predators, move objects or simply while moving in specific environments.

Researchers at Jiangnan University, Technical University of Dresden, Laurentian University and the Shanghai International Fashion Education Center recently designed new flexible and programmable textile metasurfaces that could be used to develop robots exhibiting similar morphing and camouflaging capabilities. These materials, introduced in a paper published in Advanced Fiber Materials, essentially consist of knitted structures that can be carefully engineered by adapting the geometric arrangement of their underlying interlaced yarn loops.