Digital Computing and Information Processing by Compliant, Conductive Mechanical Metamaterials
Abstract
Engineered materials and structures with sensory and actuation mechanisms controlled by an integrated central processor could operate autonomously in our environment. Such future autonomous engineered matter would exemplify an artificial embodiment of natural biological creatures, merging seamlessly with diverse, dynamic environments while "programmed" to perform useful functions. This is a highly multi-disciplinary vision, suggesting convergence of chemical, material, thermal, mechanical, electrical, fluidic, and other physics to yield self-contained and self-sufficient, compliant engineered systems that will perceive and respond to external dynamic inputs, maneuver to secure preferred positions of operation or to secure fuel, and maximize operating lifespan. While there has been great attention to the formulation of analog, soft matter-based sensors and actuators to support this vision, there is relatively little insight to date on methods to devise soft matter components for central processing of sensory and motor information. The few examples to date of decision-making mechanical matter have exploited rudimentary periodic chemical reactions and mechanical buckling against pressurized chambers, which rely on analog phenomena to emulate logic processes. Yet, logic is fundamentally a digital process, both for modern computers as well as for neurological computing in the human brain. To achieve a breakthrough needed towards a vision of autonomous engineered matter a new idea is required to synthesize digital logic-based computing in soft materials and structures. As motivated by the PI s exciting preliminary research discoveries, the scientific goal of this proposal is to synthesize a framework for soft digital computing via the strategic design and assembly of modular, soft processing unit cells that exemplify newly uncovered principles integrating buckling modal analysis, conductive trace network topology, and the laws of Boolean logic and DeMorgan. This goal will be achieved by undertaking three complementary research thrusts focused on the geometric design of the metamaterial processor unit, on the modular assembly of processing units, and on the mechanical behavior of these soft digital computers when subjected to dynamic loading environments. The research program will draw on principles of kinematics, mechanics, materials science, electronics, Boolean logic, and dynamic systems to compose multiphysics models that lend insight to the scaling relations of switchable, self-contacting conductive elastic networks with functionality governed by dynamic stress and force fields. Experimental efforts will validate findings realized via analytical and computational models, using millimeter and centimeter scale realizations of compliant, conductive mechanical metamaterial processors in a comprehensive set of mechanical, dynamic, and material characterizations in the PI s laboratory. This research will answer fundamental scientific questions that are central to understanding the origins of discrete signaling and complex information processing in soft, engineered matter to support a vast range of autonomous functions in mechanical metamaterials. Through the success of the proposed research thrusts, this project will synthesize the design principles needed to realize such soft digital computers in a wide variety of electrically conductive metamaterials, from kinematic systems to polymeric platforms. By carrying out the proposed research, we will articulate for the first time a set of underlying principles that integrate self-contacting buckling modes, conductive network topology, and the laws of Boolean logic and DeMorgan that give mechanical metamaterials means to think.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 16, 2023
- Source ID
- W911NF2310314
Entities
People
- Ryan L Harne
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Pennsylvania State University
- United States Army