Distributed Intelligence in Kirigami-Inspired Flexible Architectures

Major Goals: The purpose of this work is to develop a new conceptual paradigm of distributed intelligence as a material property, and to demonstrate the potential utility of this by delivering a kirigami-based robotic material capable of autonomous changes to its trajectory based on stimuli in the surrounding environment (heat, water, light, etc.). In order to respond to their environment, most robotic systems rely on traditional mechatronic sensors that route information to a central processor, which sends subsequent commands to electronic actuators to respond to the environment. In contrast, in this work the sensing, processing, and actuating functions are spatially distributed as part of the geometry and composition itself. That is, the kirigami locally operates on, and actuates in response to, environmental inputs such as temperature, solvents, or magnetic fields, based solely on the local geometry and composition of the kirigami. The resulting local changes can be transmitted to adjacent regions via the propagation of highly nonlinear transition waves, which lead to the evolution of phase boundaries in the structure, and drastic changes to the morphology and mechanical properties. To attain the above goals, we leverage a notion we refer to as embodied logic. A multimaterial direct ink writing (DIW) platform is used to 3D print a palette of materials that serve as sensors. With this single platform we are able to print silicones (to sense solvents), hydrogels (to sense water), liquid crystal elastomers (to sense temperature and light), etc. Second, we leverage the rich nonlinear and materials-independent mechanics of kirigami. We specifically design the kirigami to be multistable, based on a combination of its geometry and the use of permanent magnets embedded throughout the structure.