Tag: Quentin Martinet

Roadmap for animate matter published on Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter

The three properties of animacy. The three polar plots sketch our jointly perceived level of development for each principle of animacy (i.e. activity, adaptiveness and autonomy) for each system discussed in this roadmap. The polar coordinate represents the various systems, while the radial coordinate represents the level of development (from low to high) that each system shows in the principle of each polar plot. Ideally, within a generation, all systems will fill these polar plots to show high levels in each of the three attributes of animacy. For now, only biological materials (not represented here) can be considered fully animated. (Image from the manuscript, adapted.)
Roadmap for animate matter
Giorgio Volpe, Nuno A M Araújo, Maria Guix, Mark Miodownik, Nicolas Martin, Laura Alvarez, Juliane Simmchen, Roberto Di Leonardo, Nicola Pellicciotta, Quentin Martinet, Jérémie Palacci, Wai Kit Ng, Dhruv Saxena, Riccardo Sapienza, Sara Nadine, João F Mano, Reza Mahdavi, Caroline Beck Adiels, Joe Forth, Christian Santangelo, Stefano Palagi, Ji Min Seok, Victoria A Webster-Wood, Shuhong Wang, Lining Yao, Amirreza Aghakhani, Thomas Barois, Hamid Kellay, Corentin Coulais, Martin van Hecke, Christopher J Pierce, Tianyu Wang, Baxi Chong, Daniel I Goldman, Andreagiovanni Reina, Vito Trianni, Giovanni Volpe, Richard Beckett, Sean P Nair, Rachel Armstrong
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 37, 333501 (2025)
arXiv: 2407.10623
doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/adebd3

Humanity has long sought inspiration from nature to innovate materials and devices. As science advances, nature-inspired materials are becoming part of our lives. Animate materials, characterized by their activity, adaptability, and autonomy, emulate properties of living systems. While only biological materials fully embody these principles, artificial versions are advancing rapidly, promising transformative impacts in the circular economy, health and climate resilience within a generation. This roadmap presents authoritative perspectives on animate materials across different disciplines and scales, highlighting their interdisciplinary nature and potential applications in diverse fields including nanotechnology, robotics and the built environment. It underscores the need for concerted efforts to address shared challenges such as complexity management, scalability, evolvability, interdisciplinary collaboration, and ethical and environmental considerations. The framework defined by classifying materials based on their level of animacy can guide this emerging field to encourage cooperation and responsible development. By unravelling the mysteries of living matter and leveraging its principles, we can design materials and systems that will transform our world in a more sustainable manner.