Specialized lecture by Prof. Andreas Walther, University of Mainz, Germany

Professor Andreas Walther, University of Mainz, Germany

Host: Associate Professor Alexander Zelikin 

Hydrogels with a Pinch of Embodied Intelligence

Smart is good, but intelligent is better. The way towards intelligent matter involves designing material systems with embodied intelligence, featuring the sensor – processor – actuator paradigm. Such systems can be realized using physical or chemical information-processing routines that built, e.g., on metamaterial structures of chemical reaction networks to process information using logic procedures or feedback-regulated operation. In this talk, I will present different approaches towards hydrogels and soft robots that feature higher level of autonomous operation and decision-making capacity compared to traditional smart or responsive materials. The approaches combine elements of feedback-regulated enzymatic reaction networks, metamaterials, and other types of physical intelligence.