The paper I chose for this assignment was Robotic Metamaterials: A Modular System for Hands-On Configuration of Ad-Hoc Dynamic Applications
I chose this paper because I was curious as to what a “metamaterial” was, and after reading the abstract, wanted to see what the applications and limitations of this project were.
A metamaterial can be defined as a composite, man-made material that has properties not typically seen in natural materials. The paper focuses on research around the creation of a lattice-like metamaterial that has modular properties. The material is made up of interconnected square “cells” that can be manipulated by changing the inner angles of the square. There are two types of cells: passive and active. Active cells are inserted into passive cells and contain sensors that can record the cell’s movement based off the change in angles. The use case here is for a user to manually manipulate the material, have the sensors record the movement, and then the material is able to imitate the programmed movement on its own.
Hudson’s colloquium talk focused on the future of technology and the rate at which we are rapidly improving compute power. I think the research presented in this paper fits with his talk well in the sense that, right now, the use of metamaterials is pretty limited to research and only being produced in small quantities. However, as our knowledge of the field grows, it may become more and more useful until, like computers, it becomes a staple part of society.
Overall, both the paper and the talk were very interesting. Hudson has worked on some really cool projects and I am excited for his guest lecture tomorrow in class.