US ARMY IS DEVELOPING SELF-HEALING AND SHAPE-SHIFTING MATERIAL THAT COULD LEAD TO ‘TERMINATOR-STYLE’ DRONES WHICH MORPH TO ADAPT TO NEW THREATS
The team also wants the material to boast ‘the reconfiguration characteristics of the T-1000 character in the Hollywood film, Terminator 2’
The US Army is pulling inspiration from the popular film ‘Terminator 2’ in designing material capable of shape-shifting and autonomously healing.
Made of polymer, the 3D printable component has a dynamic bond that allows it to go from liquid to solid multiple times.
The new material is also equipped with a unique shape memory behavior, providing users with the ability to be program and trigger it to return to a previous form.
The military group foresees the innovation being used to create morphing unmanned air vehicles and shape-shifting robotic platforms.
The Army has teamed up with researchers at Texas A&M for this project, which aims to be a future platform suitable for air and ground missions.
The team also wants the material to boast ‘the reconfiguration characteristics of the T-1000 character in the Hollywood film, Terminator 2,’ said Dr. Frank Gardea, an aerospace engineer and principal investigator of this work for the U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory.