Complex Dynamics and Systems: Emergent Matter from Assembly of Micron-scale Atomic Origami Robots
Abstract
In 1959 Richard Feynman gave his classic talk ``There s Plenty of Room at the Bottom. In addition to predicting the coming revolution in the miniaturization of electronics components Feynman also points to the possibilities that would be opened by the miniaturization of machines. This vision, while far from being realized, is equally as tantalizing. Such robots, for example, would open a new opportunity to re-imagine materials as fundamentally dynamic. When presented with specific technological requirements, an algorithm computes in seconds the microscopic features that the material must take. Instructions from this algorithm are executed by the material s own constituent elements: micron sized robots. The material springs to life as robots link together and change shape, assembling into the new, optimized state. This grant proposes to make seminal advances critical for achieving this vision of Emergent Matter by using a newly developed atomic origami technology platform to create machines and robots at the cellular scale. These machines are based on a new graphene-silicone bimporph technology, transform between wildly different conformations, have folds that respond to electrical, thermal, as well as chemical signals, and are compatible with carrying electronic pay loads. Building on this work, this grant proposes to overcome several critical hurdles that will usher in the basic building blocks for Emergent Matter. State of the art nano-fabrication facilities available at Cornell will be used to develop lithographic processes aimed at creating systems that can achieve reversible bi-directional folding, develop surfaces and devices that invert to expose hydrophilic or other chemical functionalities, develop a bimorph platform that enables reversible electronic actuation that enables selective folding and locomotion, develop controlled interaction mechanisms between subunits, and, finally, develop methods for integrating electronics components that enable powering, sensing, and communication. The crowning achievement will be the full integration of these different components to generate the robotic building blocks that will give rise to Emergent Matter. More broadly, examples of the vision described here are abundant. One need only look to biology, to find examples of biological tissues whose properties arise from the interaction of the cells with each other and the extracellular matrix that surrounds them. These cells also sense and respond to their environment, locomote, and adhere to one another to create superstructures. The technology platform we have outlined and propose to develop represents a clear alternative route towards making material building blocks that could achieve even more extreme emergent properties. In fact, such synthetic systems will ultimately lead to Emergent Matter with specific properties designed to outperform biological materials. Thus while we are inspired by nature, we anticipate that the development of nano- and micro-scale robotic elements will lead to new classes of Emergent Matter that vastly outperform nature s materials.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 07, 2018
- Source ID
- W911NF1810032
Entities
People
- Itai Cohen
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Cornell University
- United States Army