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98. Robots that Behave Like a Material, Why and How
This episode refers to a number of visuals that are in the video version which can be seen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3fbnO3K6fxKt9pfaTp8mYn or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ml1lSxKQix8
When we look to science fiction, there are many examples of impossibly smart materials. The T-1000 from Terminator 2 comes to mind, being able to have a body that can heal and reshape at will. Or, much friendlier, the "nanobots" from Big Hero 6, a large collective of small robots that can create any shape at will.
In real life, embryonic tissue is the closest thing to these fantastical materials. It can change its shape, create complex structures, and even change its internal strength, able to melt and flow like a liquid. In a collaboration of roboticists and embryo physicists, the speaker and his co-authors made a collective of robots that embeds these principles, hopefully representing the first step toward uncovering the physics that could govern these sci-fi robotic materials.
Our speaker, Dr Matthew Devlin, is a mechanical engineer from UC Santa Barbara who has recently published a paper called "Material-like robotic collectives with spatiotemporal control of strength and shape" in the journal Science. A small team made up of robotics engineers and embryo physicists were able to distill some of the key principles of embryonic tissue and demonstrate them in robots. He believes it is a key piece of the puzzle for a Big Hero 6 or Terminator-like robotic material.
To learn more, go to this paper published in the Journal Science:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads7942
A news article written by UCSB giving a high-level explanation:
https://news.ucsb.edu/2025/021769/how-get-robot-collective-act-smart-material
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By The Rotary eClub of Silicon ValleyThis episode refers to a number of visuals that are in the video version which can be seen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3fbnO3K6fxKt9pfaTp8mYn or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ml1lSxKQix8
When we look to science fiction, there are many examples of impossibly smart materials. The T-1000 from Terminator 2 comes to mind, being able to have a body that can heal and reshape at will. Or, much friendlier, the "nanobots" from Big Hero 6, a large collective of small robots that can create any shape at will.
In real life, embryonic tissue is the closest thing to these fantastical materials. It can change its shape, create complex structures, and even change its internal strength, able to melt and flow like a liquid. In a collaboration of roboticists and embryo physicists, the speaker and his co-authors made a collective of robots that embeds these principles, hopefully representing the first step toward uncovering the physics that could govern these sci-fi robotic materials.
Our speaker, Dr Matthew Devlin, is a mechanical engineer from UC Santa Barbara who has recently published a paper called "Material-like robotic collectives with spatiotemporal control of strength and shape" in the journal Science. A small team made up of robotics engineers and embryo physicists were able to distill some of the key principles of embryonic tissue and demonstrate them in robots. He believes it is a key piece of the puzzle for a Big Hero 6 or Terminator-like robotic material.
To learn more, go to this paper published in the Journal Science:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads7942
A news article written by UCSB giving a high-level explanation:
https://news.ucsb.edu/2025/021769/how-get-robot-collective-act-smart-material