Project description
Materials that can move in complex terrains and adapt on their own
Living systems like cells and organisms can move, adapt and recover from damage – abilities that synthetic materials currently lack. Inspired by nature, the ERC-funded ANIMETA project aims to create synthetic materials that mimic these traits by combining advances in mechanical metamaterials and robotics. Known for their unique properties such as shape-changing and wave-guiding, metamaterials can move but their locomotion in complex terrains is poorly understood. ANIMETA will design a new type of metamaterial that uses robotics (sensors, actuators and feedback control) to move in ways that defy Newton’s third law. These materials will be able to roll, crawl and jump on their own.
Objective
Living materials such as cells, tissues and simple organisms are animate. They autonomously and adaptively navigate their environment and are resilient to damage. Can we take inspiration from Nature and create synthetic animate materials?
This dream has now become tangible thanks to major progress in the field of mechanical metamaterials. Metamaterials are composites that exhibit exceptional properties by leveraging geometric effects within their architecture. For example, they exhibit on-demand shape-changes and guide waves unidirectionally. Such functionalities are extremely promising to achieve animacy: pairing unidirectional waves with shape-changes can power locomotion—a crucial aspect of animacy. Yet, the locomotion of such metamaterials remains poorly understood and we lack design principles for their design and control. Therefore, metamaterials cannot locomote in complex and unpredictable terrains.
I propose to overcome these limitations by introducing a new class of shape-changing metamaterials that are non-reciprocal. I will add robotics to the metamaterials toolbox by using distributed sensors, actuators and feedback control to break mechanical reciprocity, viz. Newton’s third law. These non-reciprocal metamaterials are described by asymmetric matrices and tensors and display unidirectional patterns of shape-changes. I will harness these patterns to create three-dimensional metamaterials that can autonomously roll, crawl and jump, and that display optimal locomotion performances in complex and unpredictable terrains.
Just as living materials have deeply integrated and distributed functions, metamaterials will achieve animacy by interweaving shape-changes and non-reciprocity. ANIMETA will blur the boundary between metamaterials and robotics, provide new insights into metamaterial design and pattern formation in a distinctive setting where reciprocity is broken and will bring about new concepts for a new generation of distributed robots.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1012WX Amsterdam
Netherlands
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