Motorola working on Batman’s memory cloth-like self-healing smartphone screen technology

After shatterproof displays, Motorola aims to build smartphones with self-healing tech. cool

After pioneering the shatterproof display technology, Motorola now aims to build smartphones, which can heal on their own. The Lenovo-backed company has reportedly patented a technology for a self-repairing smartphone, which is covered with shape memory polymer material. Essentially, the material of the smartphone will be ‘smart’ enough to detect damages on the surface and reverse it using thermal elements.

Consider the material like the ‘Memory Cloth’ from The Dark Knight, but instead of electric current and cloth, Motorola’s patented technology aims to use heat and transparent plastic or glass-like polymer to achieve the self-healing capabilities. The patent describes that the technology would allow the smartphone to detect any malformation, such as a crack or bend on the external ‘smart’ glass, and notify the user about it. The user can then direct thermal element to specific areas to trigger the smart glass’ shape memory properties to self-heal, Slashgear reports. The patent demonstrates the capabilities through images, where users could identify and then select areas, which can be reset with thermal heat.

While the technology can potentially heal everyday scratches on the screen’s surface, it does not promise to fix extensive damages. As the patent describes, it can fix ‘at least some deformation’, and not all. So if you thought a shattered screen could be fixed, the perfect solution is not here yet, and in such a case repair or replacement from a store is what the option is. 

One of the interesting details that has emerged out of the patent’s reference images is the presence of dual-port connection, which were first used in the Motorola Atrix in 2011. Now, this suggests the company had been long working on the solution, and now appears to have made success. Having said that, it must be understood that companies work on technologies time and again, which appear revolutionary on paper, but face difficulties on their route to commercialization. One of the recent examples is the display-based fingerprint sensing technology which was detailed years ago, but is yet to be commercialized as companies such as Samsung and Apple are reportedly facing supply issues.

Meanwhile, it is not the first time a self-healing smartphone technology has come to light. In 2014, LG introduced its G Flex smartphone in India. The USP of the smartphone was its curved display and its self-healing back panel. The technology claimed to fix cuts or scratches on the surface in less than a day’s time. Meanwhile, scientists at the University of California have invented a phone screen material, which can heal itself. The material is made of a stretchable polymer, and ionic salt, which allows it to create a special type of bond allowing ions and molecules to attract to each other, and heal the surface in case of damage.

Source:BGR