In the next 10 years, we could witness amazing changes in technology and robotic skin that can change color to showcase different signals, could be one of those. The octopus-inspired skin doesn’t just bend and stretch, but also changes colors and probably give information with different types of views and colors.

In a new study that appeared on Thursday in Science, Cornell researchers disclosed that they have come up with a stretchable, Octopus-inspired robotic skin that is not just smooth, flexible but can also show colors on getting bend or stretched. It’s noteworthy that the robotic skin is strong and can stretch to roughly six times its actual size.

The paper titled ‘Highly stretchable electroluminescent skin for optical signaling and tactile sensing’ has explained that that the robotic skin has taken inspiration from species of cephalopods, such as octopuses, that possess flexible skin and have color changing cells, packed with pigments, enabling fast and detailed camouflaging abilities. The robotic skin created by the Cornell team mimics the feature using its stretchable electroluminescent actuator. The skin can stretch a lot, release light, and more notably, can detect internal and external pressure.

In the coming times, space agencies could use this as the skin for their rovers and other robots that could be able to live in the environments of other worlds. Having skin changing features, robots can have better interaction with humans.

While speaking to the Washington Post, lead author Robert Shepherd, a Cornell assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, said that the idea regarding the study came in their mind when he challenged his graduate students to develop tech products that can beat the inflexibility of traditional components.

He mentioned that his students took inspiration from cephalopods, which can change their skin and color and possess soft bodies that isn’t possible to copy in the robotics’ field, thus they diverted their mind to stretchable material that can be designed easily.