Digital Magnetic Handshake Materials, Structures, and Machines
Learning to build smart, digital, and mechanically functional microscale objects could be as revolutionary as human-scale manufacturing. This grant will support research to develop a new way of meeting this challenging goal. It combines two technologies: modern magnetic information storage, which can create tiny magnets in any pattern desired, and ultrathin flexible materials that can bend in response to tiny forces. These will be combined to self-assemble intelligent, functional objects, machines, and materials. By designing the magnetic patterns/information, we will direct how strands connect to form complex structures and micron sized machines that can be controlled with external magnetic fields.