RECLAM.Response, control and learning: building new manipulation strategies in living and engineered active matter (DFM.AD004.311)
Thematic area
Physical sciences and technologies of matter
Project area
Sistemi e materiali complessi, materia soffice, biofisica e reti (DFM.AD004)Structure responsible for the research project
Institutes for complex systems (ISC)
Other structures collaborating in the research project
Project manager
LUCA ANGELANI
Phone number: 0649913481
Email: luca.angelani@roma1.infn.it
Abstract
Active matter is today one of the most expanding sectors in condensed matter and statistical physics, with enormous interdisciplinary ramifications, ranging from molecular biology to robotics. In its broadest sense, it describes systems of self-propelled units that can locally convert some kind of energy into directed motion, and whose properties are modulated by interactions between units or with the environment. Examples range across different scales, from cellular tissues and colonies, bacteria and artificial microswimmers, to animal groups and robotic swarms. The distinctive feature of active matter is the non-equilibrium nature of the dynamics, giving rise to novel kinds of individual motion and non-trivial collective patterns in interacting multi-unit aggregations.
Goals
The first objective of the project is to explore the mechanisms of response in biological systems, to environmental cues, constraints and perturbations. We wish further to exploit this knowledge to control the system's behavior, according to protocols calibrated on specific tasks. Finally, we will explore how and when learning might occur on the scales of interest, and whether it can be incorporated in the system's dynamics.
Start date of activity
22/03/2022
Keywords
active matter, applications of physics in biology, soft condensed matter
Last update: 28/01/2025