To understand self-organization in nature, behold the sandpile. Remember domino theory? One country going Communist was supposed to topple the next, and then the next, and the next. The metaphor drove much of United States foreign policy in the.
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Home > Press > Spontaneous robot dances highlight a new kind of order in active matter
When a swarm of smarticles is made to interact in a confined space, they form stunningly symmetric dances whose choreography emerges spontaneously from the physics of low rattling.
CREDIT
Thomas A. Berrueta
Abstract:
Predicting when and how collections of particles, robots, or animals become orderly remains a challenge across science and engineering.
Spontaneous robot dances highlight a new kind of order in active matter
Atlanta, GA | Posted on January 1st, 2021
In the 19th century, scientists and engineers developed the discipline of statistical mechanics, which predicts how groups of simple particles transition between order and disorder, as when a collection of randomly colliding atoms freezes to form a uniform crystal lattice.
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IMAGE: When a swarm of smarticles is made to interact in a confined space, they form stunningly symmetric dances whose choreography emerges spontaneously from the physics of low rattling. view more
Credit: Thomas A. Berrueta
Predicting when and how collections of particles, robots, or animals become orderly remains a challenge across science and engineering.
In the 19th century, scientists and engineers developed the discipline of statistical mechanics, which predicts how groups of simple particles transition between order and disorder, as when a collection of randomly colliding atoms freezes to form a uniform crystal lattice.
More challenging to predict are the collective behaviors that can be achieved when the particles become more complicated, such that they can move under their own power. This type of system - observed in bird flocks, bacterial colonies and robot swarms - goes by the name active matter .