Building Biomaterial Robots with Proprioception - Design and Challenges

Explore a fascinating lecture on the potential of biomaterial robots with proprioception through this presentation at IPAM's Modeling Multi-Scale Collective Intelligences Workshop. Delve into how coupled biochemical reaction processes and genetic regulatory networks can be engineered for applications in living cells, sensing, and biomaterial robotics. Learn about the challenges and methods of designing and validating individual components, constructing mechanistic models of reaction networks, and addressing critical gaps in network design. Discover how synthetic biochemical reaction networks can be segregated into synthetic cells to create reaction-diffusion processes and coupled with mechanical motion to build robots, enable self-assembly, and regulate chemical synthesis. Examine current modeling and design methods, including emerging data-driven approaches and automated design strategies, while considering the broader implications for large-scale autonomous information processing and physical control systems using chemical components.