UNITED STATES: Scientists have created a substance with the ability to “think.”
To capture mechanical information processing and incorporate it into an enhanced type of material, researchers from Penn State University and the US Air Force expanded on research conducted as far back as 1938.
The technology is built on integrated circuits, which usually rely on silicon semiconductors to process information similarly to the human brain.
The research team found that “almost any material” available to mankind can be used to create integrated circuits capable of carrying out computing operations.
According to Ryan Harne, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State, “We have developed the first example of an engineered material that can concurrently sense, think, and act upon mechanical stress, without having additional circuitry to analyze such signals.”
The author claims that the soft polymer material “behaves like a brain” that can take in digital information strings and process them to produce new digital information sequences that can control reactions.
Reconfigurable circuits are used in the material’s operation so that external stimuli can be captured and converted into electrical information, which can then be processed to produce output signals.
The team utilized the material to conduct intricate calculations to show off its prowess. Still, it can also be used to identify radio frequencies for uses like autonomous search and rescue devices. It might also be used to locate, separate, and eliminate airborne diseases.
Now, the researchers want to improve the substance to interpret visual data similarly to how it “feels” physical signals.
Professor Harne stated, “We are currently translating this to a means of seeing to enhance the experience of ‘touching’ we have already established.”
“Our goal is to produce a piece of content that demonstrates autonomous navigation in a setting by taking note of signs, obeying them, and avoiding harmful mechanical forces like something trampling on them.”
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