Active Matter as a framework for living systems-inspired Robophysics
Soft Condensed Matter
2026-02-18 v2 Artificial Intelligence
Robotics
Abstract
Robophysics investigates the physical principles that govern living-like robots operating in complex, realworld environments. Despite remarkable technological advances, robots continue to face fundamental efficiency limitations. At the level of individual units, locomotion remains a challenge, while at the collective level, robot swarms struggle to achieve shared purpose, coordination, communication, and cost efficiency. This perspective article examines the key challenges faced by bio-inspired robotic collectives and highlights recent research efforts that incorporate principles from active-matter physics and biology into the modeling and design of robot swarms.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2511.14624,
title = {Active Matter as a framework for living systems-inspired Robophysics},
author = {Giulia Janzen and Gaia Maselli and Juan F. Jimenez and Lia Garcia-Perez and D A Matoz Fernandez and Chantal Valeriani},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.14624},
year = {2026}
}