Emergent intelligence of buckling-driven elasto-active structures

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Xi, Yuchen, Jones, Trevor J., Huang, Richard, Marzin, Tom, Brun, P. -T.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866911842189705216
author Xi, Yuchen
Jones, Trevor J.
Huang, Richard
Marzin, Tom
Brun, P. -T.
author_facet Xi, Yuchen
Jones, Trevor J.
Huang, Richard
Marzin, Tom
Brun, P. -T.
contents Active systems of self-propelled agents, e.g., birds, fish, and bacteria, can organize their collective motion into myriad autonomous behaviors. Ubiquitous in nature and across length scales, such phenomena are also amenable to artificial settings, e.g., where brainless self-propelled robots orchestrate their movements into spatio-temportal patterns via the application of external cues or when confined within flexible boundaries. Very much like their natural counterparts, these approaches typically require many units to initiate collective motion such that controlling the ensuing dynamics is challenging. Here, we demonstrate a novel yet simple mechanism that leverages nonlinear elasticity to tame near-diffusive motile particles in forming structures capable of directed motion and other emergent intelligent behaviors. Our elasto-active system comprises two centimeter-sized self-propelled microbots connected with elastic beams. These microbots exert forces that suffice to buckle the beam and set the structure in motion. We first rationalize the physics of the interaction between the beam and the microbots. Then we use reduced order models to predict the interactions of our elasto-active structure with boundaries, e.g., walls and constrictions, and demonstrate how they can exhibit intelligent behaviors such as maze navigation. The findings are relevant to designing intelligent materials or soft robots capable of autonomous space exploration, adaptation, and interaction with the surrounding environment.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_10614
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Emergent intelligence of buckling-driven elasto-active structures
Xi, Yuchen
Jones, Trevor J.
Huang, Richard
Marzin, Tom
Brun, P. -T.
Soft Condensed Matter
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Active systems of self-propelled agents, e.g., birds, fish, and bacteria, can organize their collective motion into myriad autonomous behaviors. Ubiquitous in nature and across length scales, such phenomena are also amenable to artificial settings, e.g., where brainless self-propelled robots orchestrate their movements into spatio-temportal patterns via the application of external cues or when confined within flexible boundaries. Very much like their natural counterparts, these approaches typically require many units to initiate collective motion such that controlling the ensuing dynamics is challenging. Here, we demonstrate a novel yet simple mechanism that leverages nonlinear elasticity to tame near-diffusive motile particles in forming structures capable of directed motion and other emergent intelligent behaviors. Our elasto-active system comprises two centimeter-sized self-propelled microbots connected with elastic beams. These microbots exert forces that suffice to buckle the beam and set the structure in motion. We first rationalize the physics of the interaction between the beam and the microbots. Then we use reduced order models to predict the interactions of our elasto-active structure with boundaries, e.g., walls and constrictions, and demonstrate how they can exhibit intelligent behaviors such as maze navigation. The findings are relevant to designing intelligent materials or soft robots capable of autonomous space exploration, adaptation, and interaction with the surrounding environment.
title Emergent intelligence of buckling-driven elasto-active structures
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.10614