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Higgins Hall, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

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Building with fluids: a lazy approach to fabrication 

In nature, organized arrays of elements arise spontaneously from the interactions between their component parts, e.g. reaction-diffusion problems, clustering colloidal particles and granular media, wrinkling surfaces, propagating cracks and flowing liquids. In the wake of biomimicry, I will discuss several strategies
aiming to harness mechanical instabilities in flowing liquids, e.g. coiling, droplet formation, digitation, drainage, capillary suction, and use the regularshapes and universally self-organized patterns they naturally produce astemplates for materials design. These flows are "frozen" as the liquids we use solidify into solids, e.g., through curing, cooling or evaporation. The shapes and patterns they form are universal and transcend the traditional divisions
between scientific fields or even between living and inert matter. I will show that these similarities result from the mathematical analogies in the rules that govern pattern formation. In turn, I will demonstrate how to compose with these rules to augment our manufacturing capabilities, e.g. in soft robotics

http://scienceido.com/LELAB

 

 

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