Shulou(Shulou.com)06/02 Report--

Introduction:

Throughout 2018, we have been talking about the growth of AI from the perspective of technology, applications, industry, and so on. But no matter how fast you go, technology should not be equated with "loneliness". What can really move the world is a series of new technologies that start from different places and are lucky enough to meet at the top of the mountain.

The same is true of AI. After talking about the growth of AI for a whole year, we might as well look away at the technologies that are about to meet with AI: how softer and lighter materials will change the carrier of AI, how the emergence of 5G will affect AI, what the development of biological science has taught AI. In the "Friends of AI" series, we will introduce the development of technologies that are closely related to AI over the past year and see how the world will be painted together when they meet each other.

The most recent source of happiness is the quotation of teacher Liu Xiaolingtong. One of the most widely circulated is the passage that "foreigners regard Journey to the West as a science fiction prophecy. Sun WuKong pulls a hair and turns into countless monkeys who look like him. This is the earliest technology of human cloning."

Yes, it is. It's a matter of opinion. However, if you really want to change everything in the world with a hair, you may not be able to master the "six studies" to the full level, and you still have to rely on the progress of material science.

Today, we will "blossom both styles" and promote the culture of new materials. Let's take a look at a new liquid crystal deformable material recently invented by scientists at Rice University.

This rubber-shaped nanomaterial can be transformed from one complex shape to another simply by heating, making it truly elastic to the touch. It feels that the progress of "pulling out a hair and blowing out ten thousand monkeys" will come even faster than the "harmony between China and the United States." So, how on earth is such a magical function realized?

What's so magical about the new deformable material?

Recently, Rafael Weir Dusco, a materials scientist at Rice University, and Morgan Barnes, a graduate student, designed an entirely new polymer that uses liquid crystal elastomers that can be molded into any complex shape when heated (80 ℃) and, more importantly, in both directions.

The most common application scene of liquid crystal elastomer (LCD) is LCD TV display. In the past, once the molecular arrangement of liquid crystal elastomers was stimulated by the outside world, the deformation of liquid crystal elastomers could only be realized by irreversible rewriting.

Scientists have added a photosensitive switch to the new variable material. When cooled, the molecules that form the liquid crystal dominate, keeping it in a fixed shape. Once exposed to thermal stimulation, the rubber band-like elastomer relaxes and begins to "melt" into a different design.

Barnes made a number of samples, such as Lego bricks, a face, a rose and other complex shapes that stretch out and collapse into a piece of flat paper when heated to a temperature of about 80 ℃. After removing the heat, it will return to its original state in a few minutes.

This experiment looks simple, but in fact, it is not so easy to achieve the interaction and balance between liquid and solid.

For example, we can squeeze liquid metal into any solid state as imagined. However, it is not realistic to directly transform the "work" into another solid shape. It often needs to be re-transformed into water and then molded again.

With liquid crystal elastomers, you don't have to go to so much trouble. As long as the "program" is set in advance, the polymer can convert three-dimensional shapes to each other under photothermal stimulation by virtue of its strong "memory". Doesn't that sound interesting?

Interestingly, in August this year, the University of Boulder in Colorado published similar results in the journal Scientific Progress. Earlier, researchers at Zhejiang University also launched a new type of plastic that can set the shape in advance and change the shape freely.

Why are material scientists all over the world so eager to develop this new material? Perhaps behind this problem, there are likely to be key points that affect the future of AI.

Learn to change 72, AI can also fly to the blue sky?

The impact of this new deformable material on AI can be answered by the following four difficult problems that plague the industry:

1. The universal problem of robot application.

In the past, we have said that many micro-robots, especially bionic robots such as robotic snakes, can replace people in emergency rescue and special environments to reduce the safety risk of human beings. However, the body made of hard metal greatly limits the adaptability of the robot to the field environment.

Structural and material research restricts the imagination of engineers and the motion scene of soft robots. But the robot made of this material is free to change its shape when it encounters obstacles, and it can repair itself even if it is damaged. It is the same style of "venom" of carry.

two。 The cost dilemma of intelligent manufacturing.

One of the problems that restrict 3D printing and intelligent machinery from entering large-scale production is the high cost of materials.

After all, every injection molding of conventional materials will break the original molecular structure, but liquid crystal elastomers can be recycled by virtue of "material memory".

As long as the "program" is set, it can change many times according to the temperature and make the cost cheaper. There are new possibilities for the large-scale production of intelligent machines such as medical sensors, self-stretching solar panels and deformable robots.

3. The demand for industrial upgrading of intelligent production.

The structural adjustment of China's traditional industries and the rapid development of emerging industries have brought the urgent need for the transformation and upgrading of production enterprises.

For example, Italian scientists have designed a clothing that can sense human sweat, which can automatically open and close the cloth on the back to cool or keep the body warm. However, if there are no innovative materials as a prerequisite, it will fall into the embarrassing situation that "a clever housewife cannot make bricks without rice".

The discovery of liquid crystal elastomer not only makes product innovation possible, but also further promotes the extension and upgrading of the industrial chain from the application side, attracts traditional manufacturers to take the initiative to change, and excavates the business imagination brought by deformed products into daily life.

4.AI innovation is short of computing power.

As we all know, AI systems need large-scale computing power to support, but at present, there is an imbalance between supply and demand of chips around the world. Intel is so busy that it announces the cancellation of its contract manufacturing business, and even block chain companies can transform AI chip manufacturing from mining, so we can see how big the gap is.

The emergence of liquid crystal elastomer is expected to solve the production capacity problem of chip manufacturing, so as to alleviate the limitation of AI technology popularization caused by the shortage of computing power and the rise of chip price.

All in all, if AI is based on production, demand, cost and other comprehensive conditions to finally present the truth, then the emergence of liquid crystal elastomer, just as pepper was introduced into China as a new ingredient in the 16th century, changing not only the eating habits of a small number of people, but also a prerequisite for the emergence and prosperity of many cuisines.

What does deformable material mean to the masses?

Of course, these are some of the changes that liquid crystal elastomers may bring to the AI industry.

For ordinary people, what kind of "good food" can be cooked from this new material is the focus of our concern, okay?

At present, it seems that liquid crystal elastomer can bring a lot of practical benefits, for example, it can be made into a soft robot, which can operate more accurately and avoid secondary damage to the operating object when carrying out rescue, medical treatment and other actions.

For example, it can be used as an ideal material for some sensors. It is like being embedded in a shoe to measure the shear stress of a diabetic foot.

The repeatable equipment made of this deformable material can also save a lot of space. For example, deformable furniture, usually can be placed on the wall of the straight state, through the heat trigger can be automatically assembled into the ideal size of the table or chair, can be called "decoration genius".

In addition, the next goal of scientists is to reduce the transition temperature of the material, which is expected to be controlled by body temperature in the future. In this way, the smartphone button function can be activated by touch, and the visually impaired can easily use it.

Maybe one day, each of us will have a venom cutie or Transformers, a rubber arm that can extend indefinitely like Luffy, and a home space that can change at will like Lego bricks, or, "pull out a hair." blow out ten thousand monkeys.

Or, technological breakthroughs do not depend on "Zhangkou", but because of a little progress in basic science, the Monkey King 72's childhood fantasy has become a clear and palpable reality.

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