New Directions: Wireless Robotic Materials

Abstract

We describe opportunities and challenges with wireless robotic materials. Robotic materials are multi-functional composites that tightly integrate sensing, actuation, computation and communication to create smart composites that can sense their environment and change their physical properties in an arbitrary programmable manner. Computation and communication in such materials are based on miniature, possibly wireless, devices that are sca ered in the material and interface with sensors and actuators inside the material. Whereas routing and processing of information within the material build upon results from the eld of sensor networks, robotic materials are pushing the limits of sensor networks in both size (down to the order of microns) and numbers of devices (up to the order of millions). In order to solve the algorithmic and systems challenges of such an approach, which will involve not only computer scientists, but also roboticists, chemists and material scientists, the community requires a common platform -much like the "Mote" that bootstrapped the widespread adoption of the eld of sensor networks -that is small, provides ample of computation, is equipped with basic networking functionalities, and preferably can be powered wirelessly.

From Natural to Artificial Camouflage: Components and Systems

“…Together with the fact that generating these patterns locally requires only local information, motivates a local generation of such patterns. Albeit we cannot speak for natural systems, addressing millions of pixels on an amorphous 3D surface and routing information there from a central location will remain a challenge from an engineering perspective [77].…”