{"id":38923,"date":"2020-07-29T18:26:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T18:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/29\/are-squid-teeth-the-secret-to-building-self-healing-robots-the-army-thinks-so\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:17:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:17:37","slug":"are-squid-teeth-the-secret-to-building-self-healing-robots-the-army-thinks-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2020\/07\/29\/are-squid-teeth-the-secret-to-building-self-healing-robots-the-army-thinks-so\/","title":{"rendered":"Are squid teeth the secret to building \u2018self-healing\u2019 robots? The Army thinks so"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scientists working with the Army are employing a natural self-healing process using squid teeth in ways that could allow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2019\/05\/21\/far-out-field-trip-what-marines-could-learn-from-burning-man\/\" target=_blank>future engineers<\/a> to manufacture self-fixing parts in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2018\/05\/30\/this-tech-might-fix-a-deadly-problem-troops-face-when-strapping-on-goggles\/\" target=_blank>soldier clothing<\/a>, prosthetic legs, personal protective equipment and even robot parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The polymer they\u2019ve been able to reproduce is based on a natural protein in the ring teeth of a squid that repairs itself when damaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stephanie McElhinny, program manager at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.army.mil\/article\/237581\" target=_blank>Army Research Office<\/a>, told Army Times that while applications for soldiers are still a few years away, what they\u2019ve been able to do is already showing real promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2019\/07\/19\/pentagon-scientists-are-making-talking-plasma-laser-balls-for-use-as-non-lethal-weapons\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/marine-laser.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Pentagon scientists are making talking plasma laser balls for use as non-lethal weapons<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Sounds can now move through the laser frequencies, and developers expect a usable weapon in the next five years.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe could update to scaling production in three to five years, prototyping in five to eight years and materials for soldiers in 10 to 15 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researchers at Penn State University and Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany have been successful in producing these \u201chigh-strength\u201d synthetic proteins, the result of a greater effort to build a kind of \u201clibrary\u201d of naturally-occurring compounds that could have a host of military applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The process works somewhat like Velcro, McElhinny said. The bonds that hold the protein together can be pulled apart but rapidly stitch themselves back together, unlike the chemical bonds used in non-biological, self-healing materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that process can be controlled by heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of biology,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can tune both the biological material and the stimulus you apply to the material in a way that will support the kinds of interactions you want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the laboratory researchers were able to accelerate a procedure that typically takes 24 hours to a single second. That heat and \u201cheal\u201d process means \u201csoft robots\u201d can heal themselves immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn nature, self-healing takes a long time,\u201d Abdon Pena-Francelsch, a Humboldt postdoctoral fellow at Max Planck, said in a CCDC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.army.mil\/article\/237581\" target=_blank>statement<\/a>. \u201cIn this sense, our technology outsmarts nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other applications, meanwhile, have been shown to initiate the healing process simply by shining light on the compound, potentially removing the need for high heat sources, McElhinny said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, the first hurdle has been cleared \u2014 reproducing the event in a lab by combing natural proteins and synthetic means. That work makes the synthetic process \u2014 there\u2019s no squid dentist on a boat pulling squid teeth \u2014 reproducible on a large scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What jumped out early in research with squid teeth protein was its \u201cextreme toughness,\u201d McElhinny said. That, combined with its self-healing properties, means it could be combined with other tough materials for new methods of building a soldier\u2019s kit or parts for vital machinery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though it\u2019s early in the process, the applications are not confined to the military. The program manager said that there\u2019s already been interest from the textile industry, where wear and tear on clothing is caused by rubbing and shedding particles of the fabric. But an ultra-tough compound could prevent or at least delay that degradation, lengthening the wear and life of cloth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And with the way they\u2019ve manufactured the material, volume isn\u2019t a concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The protein is being grown using a bacterial host, of which researchers can ferment thousands of liters at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By using that sequence, McElhinny said, \u201cyou can grow vats and vats of this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protein in squid teeth could hold the solution for self-healing materials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":73679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-post-observation-post","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3405],"class_list":["post-38923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"OOR4JXUKRJBQ5G2UVS2YECUXXM","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2020\/07\/29\/are-squid-teeth-the-secret-to-building-self-healing-robots-the-army-thinks-so\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"observation-post","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Are squid teeth the secret to building \u2018self-healing\u2019 robots? The Army thinks so - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Protein in squid teeth could hold the solution for self-healing materials.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are squid teeth the secret to building \u2018self-healing\u2019 robots? 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