Speaker: Professor Itai Cohen,  Department of Physics, Cornell University

Seminar: Programmable Magnetic Handshake Materials for Microscopic Self-Assembly, Machines and Diffractobots

Host: Wyatt Shields

Seminar Abstract
I will describe an experimental platform we are developing for programmable microscopic magnetic self-assembly of individual units into structures, machines and ultimately robots. We manufacture the microscopic building blocks at the wafer-scale, with the ability to precisely design shapes, magnetic moments and magnetic interactions. Once released, these building blocks are able to self-assemble into the target structures at a 95 percent yield using a technique that avoids kinetic traps - the usual problem with self-assembly of thermal systems. In this talk, I will discuss how we achieve this high yield and explain our vision for using these particles to build microscopic machines and robots that can incorporate optical elements.
 

Biosketch
Professor Itai Cohen studies the physics of matter in motion. At Cornell, his research has focused on building microscopic robots, controlling the shear thickening behavior of microscopic and nanoscopic particles suspended in a fluid, exploring the mechanics of materials ranging from biological tissues to origami inspired metamaterials, discovering the aerodynamic and neuromuscular mechanisms used by insects during flapping flight and determining how audiences at heavy metal concerts coordinate their movement. Understanding how emergent behaviors arise from the microscopic rules governing these systems remains one of the biggest challenges in Physics.