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SUMMARY:Morphing materials: from brains to robots - Professor John Biggins
 \, Cambridge University Engineering Department
DTSTART:20251114T160000Z
DTEND:20251114T170000Z
UID:TALK240049@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:46601
DESCRIPTION:Biological tissues undergo dramatic and functional shape trans
 formations during development and operation. In contrast\, engineering mat
 erials are typically stiff and lifeless. In this talk\, I will discuss how
  we engineer soft-solids to obtain lifelike complex morphing. Firstly\, I 
 will highlight how even simple elastomers and gels can exhibit rich shape-
 switching via elastic instabilities\, including new fingering and beading 
 instabilities\, and a mechanical theory of brain folding. Secondly\, I wil
 l introduce an emerging class of active soft solid\, liquid crystal elasto
 mers (LCEs)\, that produce muscle-like uniaxial contraction in response to
  heat and light. Spatial patterning of the contractile direction during fa
 brication enables LCEs to undergo programmed morphing on stimulation\, mim
 icking the complex growth patterns that underpin morphogenesis. I will sho
 wcase a suite of tools for designing\, simulating\, and manufacturing such
  patterns\, enabling complex actuation and robotic functions including lif
 ting\, grabbing\, haptic pixels\, and pumping. Lastly\, LCEs also show a m
 aterial-mechanism\, in which the alignment rotates within the LCE under st
 rain. The resultant "soft elasticity" introducing new instabilities\, enab
 les the facile manufacture of arbitrarily programmed shape morphers\, and\
 , looking ahead\, shows great promise for the in-vivo tailoring of biomedi
 cal implants.\n
LOCATION:JDB Seminar Room\, CUED
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