About the workshop
The role of soft, adaptive matter in Robotics is intensively growing with the increasing demand for compliant, intelligent, and collaborative robotic behavior. The development of intelligent material systems combining actuation, sensing, and computation has become one of the grand challenges for realizing this vision of next-generation soft robotics. Material intelligence, the concept of material-level acquisition and application of knowledge and skills, embodies a critical synergy of sensing, actuation, and computation with the potential to redefine our expectations of material behavior. However, this idea's advancement faces several challenges due to the technical breadth, complex implementation, and conceptual paradigm shift of material behavior it requires. In addition, physical integration of these capabilities and concepts is inherently interdisciplinary, requiring input and the development of a common language across numerous disciplines, including Materials Science, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Bioengineering, Architecture, and others. The present workshop aims to host "under one roof" the leading researchers in the fields of soft-material actuation, sensing, and computation to create a dialogue on state of the art, identify technical/conceptual barriers, and outline key challenges and opportunities for Material Intelligence.
Organizers
Aslan Miriyev
Empa
Imperial College London
Philip Buskohl
AFRL
Robert Shepherd
Cornell University
Mirko Kovac
Empa
Imperial College London
Program
