How Can Morphable Skins Help To Make Your Car Faster?

Article originally posted on Wired.com

Although it is likely years away, there is a distinct possibility that we may be driving around in cars covered in morphable skin one day. This technology would not allow your car to become invisible, nor will it help it to transform like Optimus Prime. Despite these disappointments, the technology that lead inventor Pedro Reis is bringing to the table could be useful  in a variety of ways. Most notably, morphable skin can help your car to accelerate and drive at faster speeds. Now who doesn't like fast cars?

Reis is a mechanical engineer at MIT who, with the help of his team, has been able to design a ball with a morphable surface texture. The ball is able to wrinkle into a dimpled pattern similar to that of a golf ball, and maintain similar aerodynamic properties. The team refers to this nifty morphing ball as a "smorph", which stands for smart morphable surface. The smorph technology works by sucking the air out of its hollow core, and pulling the exterior skin of the ball closer towards the center like a suction. As the core shrinks, the squishy outer layer is able to contract smoothly, but is also forced to wrinkle. This is where Reis' expertise comes into play.




Reis is well known for studying and developing new ways to make structural failures more useful. The wrinkling activity of the smorph  comes down to precise measurements, beginning with the thickness of the smorph's outer skin. If the skin is too thick it won't be able to wrinkle, and if it's too thin it will be crushed like a ping pong ball under the pressure. Once Reis and his team are able to find that happy medium, they can then adjust the thickness of the outer skin to form dimples similar to those found on a golf ball.

The dimples on a golf ball help it to fly further when struck. The air passing over the dimples creates tiny vortices, preventing the air from clinging to it and bringing it back to the ground. The smorph works the same way except it has the additional ability of existing with a smooth outer skin if need be. The vortices are only effective at relatively low speeds, and if  the smorph were to move fast enough, it would gain more speed with a smooth outer surface. Reis' system allows he and his team to adjust the size of the dimples, thus controlling the amount of resistance that the smorph encounters.

So how can this technology help to make your car faster? Imagine aerodynamic dimples along the curves of your car. They would not look like the little pink ball seen above, but the technology would function the same way. The result would be faster accelerating, and more fuel efficient cars. Right now we depend on proper maintenance and the right tires to get us from place to place as safely and efficiently as possible. Imagine if the body of your car did some of that work for us?