Bolei Deng (邓博磊)

Postdoc in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science

News

I am joining Georgia Tech as an Assistant Professor on Dec 1, 2023 leading the Computational Design & Metamaterials Lab (CDM Lab). I am looking for multiple Ph.D. students 🎓🎓🎓 (checkout opportunities page for more information).

What are metamaterials?

Metamaterials are a class of structural materials with exotic properties, where their macroscopic physical characteristics arise from the precise geometric design of their microstructures.

My role in this

My lab will leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning for multi-scale design and optimization of metamaterial meso-structures.

We will primarily focus on their nonlinear mechanical properties, including nonlinear dynamics, multi-stability, and fracture. Additionally, we will explore how to leverage these characteristics to develop ultra-strong/tough while lightwseight metamaterials, design robot systems based on metamaterials, and even develop materials with physical intelligence capable of memory, computation, and decision-making.

About Physical Intelligence

What is Physical Intelligence?
Over billions of years, to survive in unstructured real-world environments, biological organisms have developed not only neural intelligence in their brains, but also Physical Intelligence encoded in their body. For example, Venus flytraps can sense their prey with sensory hairs, process signals and make decisions using chemical reactions, and capture the prey via snap-through instabilities without requiring central neural systems.

Although recent developments of computational intelligence (e.g., artificial intelligence, high performance processors) have matched or even surpassed their biological counterpart neural intelligence, research in physical intelligence is still in its infancy.

My approach to Physical Intelligence
I will combine my expertise in Metamaterials (nonlinear waves, phase transitions, soft robotics), Responsive Materials, and Design Algorithms to develop next-geneartion materials, device, and robots with Physical Intelligence.

A road map
The following is a preliminary roadmap for the development of physical intelligence. Thrust 1 and 2 aim to unveil the fundamental relationships between materials, structures, and functionalities, and to build programmable metamaterials that can intelligently interact with environments. Building upon these foundations, Thrust 3 focuses on the creation of systems that exhibit sophisticated physical intelligence.