24-753 Special Topics: Robotic Materials: Designs, Principles & Mechanics
12 units, Carnegie Mellon University
This is an interdisciplinary course focused on principles, theoretical models, and material architectures relevant to applications of condensed soft matter to problems in engineering. Special attention will be given to the design of soft, elasticallydeformable machines and electronics that are primarily composed of elastomers, gels, fluids, gas, and other nonrigid matter. Specific topics will include the mechanics of hyperelastic solids, statistical mechanics of polymers and polymer composites, energybased modeling techniques derived from the Laws of Thermodynamics, and their applications in modeling soft multifunctional material systems. Additionally, we will explore emerging paradigms in soft robotics, wearable computing, and human machine interaction, including material architectures for artificial muscles, stretchable electronics, and sensorized robotic skin. This course will include extensive reading with problem set assignments, a takehome exam, and final report. Students need familiarity with undergraduatelevel solid mechanics, vector mechanics, thermodynamics, and ODEs
Prerequisites: 24-751
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