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In contrast with the diversity of materials found in nature, most robots are designed with some combination of aluminum, stainless steel, and 3D-printed filament. Additionally, robotic systems are typically assumed to follow basic…
Replicating and surpassing the autonomy of natural organisms remains a long-standing goal in robotics. Yet most robotic systems have their structure, materials, and control designed separately, in sharp contrast to the co-evolution in…
We introduce structural heterogeneity, a new topological characteristic for semi-ordered materials that captures their degree of organisation at a mesoscopic level and tracks their time-evolution, ultimately detecting the order-disorder…
In areas that are inaccessible to humans, such as the lunar surface and landslide sites, there is a need for multiple autonomous mobile robot systems that can replace human workers. In particular, at landslide sites such as river channel…
To analyze seismic wave propagation in geological structures, it is possible to consider various numerical approaches: the finite difference method, the spectral element method, the boundary element method, the finite element method, the…
Materials exhibit geometric structures across mesoscopic to microscopic scales, influencing macroscale properties such as appearance, mechanical strength, and thermal behavior. Capturing and modeling these multiscale structures is…
Perceiving the shape and material of an object from a single image is inherently ambiguous, especially when lighting is unknown and unconstrained. Despite this, humans can often disentangle shape and material, and when they are uncertain,…
A challenge in global change biology is to predict how species will respond to future environmental change and to manage these responses. To make such predictions and management actions robust to novel futures, we need to accurately…
The methodologies of bioinspiration, biomimetics, and bioreplication are inevitably pointing to the incorporation of multifunctionality in engineered materials when designing ever more complex systems. Optimal multifunctionality is also the…
When wet soil becomes fully saturated by intense rainfall, or is shaken by an earthquake, it may fluidize catastrophically. Sand-rich slurries are treated as granular suspensions, where the failure is related to an unjamming transition. Mud…
In the first paper of this series, we proposed a model-independent framework for characterising the architecture of planetary systems at the system level. There are four classes of planetary system architecture: similar, mixed,…
Experimental methods allow the shape and chemical composition of solid surfaces to be controlled at a mesoscopic level. Exposing such structured substrates to a gas close to coexistence with its liquid can produce quite distinct adsorption…
The development of bio-inspired interfacial materials with enhanced drop mobility that mimic the innate functionalities of nature will have significant impact on the energy, environment and global healthcare. In spite of extensive progress,…
Harnessing the rich nonlinear dynamics of highly-deformable materials has the potential to unlock the next generation of functional smart materials and devices. However, unlocking such potential requires effective strategies to spatially…
Windblown sand creates multiscale bedforms on Earth, Mars, and other planetary bodies. According to conventional wisdom, decameter-scale dunes and decimeter-scale ripples emerge via distinct mechanisms on Earth: a hydrodynamic instability…
It is important to accurately model materials' properties at lower length scales (micro-level) while translating the effects to the components and/or system level (macro-level) can significantly reduce the amount of experimentation required…
Traditional design cycles for new materials and assemblies have two fundamental drawbacks. The underlying physical relationships are often too complex to be precisely calculated and described. Aside from that, many unknown uncertainties,…
Hydraulic structures such as dams have a direct or indirect influence on the hydro-sedimentary functioning of rivers. They can impact the sediment continuity of the river and can create a sediment imbalance with zones of sediment…
Structural elements made of laminated hardwood are increasingly used in timber engineering. In this combined numerical and experimental approach, damage onset and propagation in uni-directional and cross-laminated samples out of European…
Disordered fibrous matrices, formed by the random assembly of fibers, provide the structural framework for many biological systems and biomaterials. Applied deformation modifies the alignment and stress states of constituent fibers, tuning…