Related papers: Architecture and Co-Evolution of Allosteric Materi…

Allosteric regulation in proteins is often accompanied by conformational changes that facilitate transmission of mechanical signals between distant ligand binding sites. Typically, these deformations are classified in terms of specific…

Grip, walk, crawl, and jump. Soft robots are integrated functional structures composed of compliant mechanisms, whose activity spans various industrial applications such as surgery, healthcare, surveillance, and even planetary exploration.…

Allostery plays a fundament role in most biological processes. However, little theory is available to describe it outside of two-state models. Here we use a statistical mechanical approach to show that the allosteric coupling between two…

A minimal athermal model for the flow of dense disordered materials is proposed, based on two generic ingredients: local plastic events occuring above a microscopic yield stress, and the non-local elastic release of the stress these events…

Articulated objects like doors, drawers, valves, and tools are pervasive in our everyday unstructured dynamic environments. Articulation models describe the joint nature between the different parts of an articulated object. As most of these…

Collective dynamics in proliferating anisotropic particle systems arise from an interplay between growth, division, and mechanical interactions, often mediated by particle shape. In classical models of prolate, rod-like growth, flow-induced…

Plasticity with softening and fracture mechanics lead to ill-posed mathematical problems due to the loss of monotonicity. Multiple co-existing solutions are possible when softening elements are coupled together, and solutions cannot be…

Robots operating in domestic environments generally need to interact with articulated objects, such as doors, cabinets, dishwashers or fridges. In this work, we present a novel, probabilistic framework for modeling articulated objects as…

Architected materials can achieve enhanced properties compared to their plain counterparts. Specific architecting serves as a powerful design lever to achieve targeted behavior without changing the base material. Thus, the connection…

The spatial structure of the cell is highly organized at all levels: from small complexes and assemblies, to local nano- and micro-clusters, to global, micrometer scales across and between cells. We suggest that this multiscale spatial cell…

Soft robots achieve functionality through tight coupling among geometry, material composition, and actuation. As a result, effective design optimization requires these three aspects to be considered jointly rather than in isolation. This…

We examine how disordering joint position influences the linear elastic behavior of lattice materials via numerical simulations in two-dimensional beam networks. Three distinct initial crystalline geometries are selected as representative…

Bone remodeling is a complex process involving cell-cell interactions, biochemical signaling and mechanical stimuli. Early models of the biological aspects of remodeling were non-spatial and focused on the local dynamics at a fixed location…

Allosteric signaling in biological molecules, which may be viewed as specific action at a distance due to localized perturbation upon binding of ligands or changes in environmental cues, is pervasive in biology. Phenomenological MWC and KNF…

The design of intelligent materials often draws parallels with the complex adaptive behaviors of biological organisms, where robust functionality stems from sophisticated hierarchical organization and emergent long-distance coordination…

The building of mathematical and computer models of cities has a long history. The core elements are models of flows (spatial interaction) and the dynamics of structural evolution. In this article, we develop a stochastic model of urban…

We use recent theoretical advances to develop a new functional form for interatomic forces in bulk silicon. The theoretical results underlying the model include a novel analysis of elastic properties for the diamond and graphitic structures…

Typically, AI researchers and roboticists try to realize intelligent behavior in machines by tuning parameters of a predefined structure (body plan and/or neural network architecture) using evolutionary or learning algorithms. Another but…

Physical experiments can characterize the elastic response of granular materials in terms of macroscopic state-variables, namely volume (packing) fraction and stress, while the microstructure is not accessible and thus neglected. Here, by…

Can active forces be exploited to drive the consistent collapse of an active polymer into a folded structure? In this paper we introduce and perform numerical simulations of a simple model of active colloidal folders, and show that a…