Intelligent Mechanical Metamaterials

The pursuit of intelligent matter, equipped with sophisticated sensing capabilities, self-powering mechanisms, adaptive responses, and autonomous functionality, has become a focal point across diverse engineering and medical domains. This talk seeks to address this challenge by exploring the synergy of mechanical metamaterials and nanogenerators with the aim of crafting intelligent metastructures endowed with a level of autonomy. Mechanical metamaterials can form a robust and versatile mechanical framework for such metastructures. Their unique properties, often unattainable in natural materials, enable realizing metastructures with tailored mechanical functionalities at nano, micro and macro scales. The integration of nanogenerators into the metamaterial framework results in creating intelligent metastructures with a constant power supply necessary to sustain advanced functionalities such as sensing, actuation, adaptation, information processing, and communication, all while providing mechanical properties that defy conventional limitations. This talk presents the underlying principles, challenges, and diverse possibilities arising from this transformative synergy. It highlights the potential of this paradigm shift to unlock a myriad of real-life applications, ranging from adaptive large-scale meta-infrastructure systems to nano-scale meta-implants.