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IMAGE: Engineers and physicists from MIT and Georgia Tech are enabling near real-time modeling of wheels, treads, and desert animals traveling at high speeds across sandy terrains. Dynamic Resistive Force Theory, . view more
Credit: Photo by Jack Delulio on Unsplash
Granular materials, such as sand and gravel, are an interesting class of materials. They can display solid, liquid, and gas-like properties, depending on the scenario. But things can get complicated in cases of high-speed vehicle locomotion, which cause these materials to enter a triple-phase nature, acting like all three fundamental phases of matter at the same time.
As reported in the April 23, 2021 issue of the journal
Nanotechnology Now
Home > Press > Simple robots, smart algorithms
When sensors, communication, memory and computation are removed from a group of simple robots, certain sets of complex tasks can still be accomplished by leveraging the robots physical characteristics, a trait that a team of researchers led by Georgia Tech calls task embodiment.
CREDIT
Shengkai Li, Georgia Tech
Abstract:
Anyone with children knows that while controlling one child can be hard, controlling many at once can be nearly impossible. Getting swarms of robots to work collectively can be equally challenging, unless researchers carefully choreograph their interactions like planes in formation using increasingly sophisticated components and algorithms. But what can be reliably accomplished when the robots on hand are simple, inconsistent, and lack sophisticated programming for coordinated behavior?
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VIDEO: Individually, California blackworms live an unremarkable life eating microorganisms in ponds and serving as tropical fish food for aquarium enthusiasts. But together, tens, hundreds, or thousands of the centimeter-long creatures. view more
Credit: Georgia Tech, Brice Zimmerman and Christopher Moore
Individually, California blackworms live an unremarkable life eating microorganisms in ponds and serving as tropical fish food for aquarium enthusiasts. But together, tens, hundreds, or thousands of the centimeter-long creatures can collaborate to form a worm blob, a shape-shifting living liquid that collectively protects its members from drying out and helps them escape threats such as excessive heat.
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