Adaptive locomotion of active solids

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Veenstra, Jonas; Scheibner, Colin; Brandenbourger, Martin; Binysh, Jack; Souslov, Anton; Vitelli, Vincenzo; Coulais, Corentin
• 署名单位: University of Amsterdam; University of Chicago; University of Chicago; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); CNRS - Institute for Engineering & Systems Sciences (INSIS); Aix-Marseille Universite; University of Cambridge; University of Chicago; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI)
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-2563
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08646-3
• 发表日期: 2025-03-27
• 关键词: central pattern generators; DYNAMICS; TOPOLOGY; motion

摘要

Active systems composed of energy-generating microscopic constituents are a promising platform to create autonomous functional materials1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15-16 that can, for example, locomote through complex and unpredictable environments. Yet coaxing these energy sources into useful mechanical work has proved challenging. Here we engineer active solids based on centimetre-scale building blocks that perform adaptive locomotion. These prototypes exhibit a non-variational form of elasticity characterized by odd moduli8,12,17, whose magnitude we predict from microscopics using coarse-grained theories and which we validate experimentally. When interacting with an external environment, these active solids spontaneously undergo limit cycles of shape changes, which naturally lead to locomotion such as rolling and crawling. The robustness of the locomotion is rooted in an emergent feedback loop between the active solid and the environment, which is mediated by elastic deformations and stresses. As a result, our active solids are able to accelerate, adjust their gaits and locomote through a variety of terrains with a similar performance to more complex control strategies implemented by neural networks. Our work establishes active solids as a bridge between materials and robots and suggests decentralized strategies to control the nonlinear dynamics of biological systems8,18, 19, 20, 21-22, soft materials5,6,9,11,12,23, 24-25 and driven nanomechanical devices7,26, 27, 28, 29-30.