Materials that can roll, crawl and jump

Living materials such as cells, tissues and simple organisms are animate: they navigate their environment, adapt to it, and are resilient to damage. The goal of ANIMETA is to take inspiration from Nature and create synthetic animate materials.

This dream has become tangible thanks to major progress in Coulais’ field of expertise: that of mechanical metamaterials. These lab-made materials exhibit functionalities that are extremely promising to achieve animacy. In particular, their properties can power locomotion—a crucial aspect of animacy. Yet, the locomotion of such metamaterials remains poorly understood and we lack principles for their design and control. Therefore, metamaterials cannot yet locomote in complex and unpredictable terrains. Coulais proposes to overcome these limitations by introducing a new class of shape-changing metamaterials and adding robotics to the metamaterials toolbox. In this way, he will create three-dimensional metamaterials that can autonomously roll, crawl and jump, and that display optimal locomotion performances in complex and unpredictable terrains.

Consolidating independence

The ERC Consolidator grant allows researchers in Europe with 7-12 years of research experience to consolidate their independence by establishing a research team and continuing to develop a successful career. The ANIMETA project will run for five years, employing two PhD students and two postdocs in Coulais’ team. The grant, for a total amount of three million euros, also includes a one-million-euro component for material investments.