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Physical Computing in Elastic Metamaterials:
There is a significant range of physical phenomena—from nonlinear elasticity, to symmetry, noise, topology, and disorder — that are rarely utilized in traditional computing paradigms. Yet these phenomena can unlock new efficiencies, by directly processing signals in their natural domain, and by bypassing the traditional abstraction stack associated with digital CMOS technology. However, building physical computers is challenging. Information processing tasks generally involve complex input-output relations, thus requiring designs that are highly expressive; and for these designs, the relation between function and structure is nontrivial, complicating the simulation, design, and fabrication of devices. In my talk, I will illustrate our journey towards using metamaterials for physical computing, with two recent examples. First, I will talk about our results in passive speech recognition, where we leverage a phononic metamaterial to implement wake-up-word detection with zero standby power consumption. Second, I will discuss our ongoing work in self-learning materials, that autonomously adapt to improve their performance—driven by their ability to form long-term memories in response to examples and external feedback.
Dr. Marc Serra-Garcia earned his Master's degree from Caltech in 2013 and his Ph.D. from ETH Zurich in 2017. He is now a tenure-track group leader at the AMOLF institute in Amsterdam, specializing in mechanics, information technologies, and thermodynamics. His research focuses on developing elastic computing structures and wave-controlling materials, earning recognition through an ERC Starting Grant.
Lunch will be provided starting at 11:45am