Novel Material Able to Sense, Think, and Act

Researchers at Penn State have created a new material that is capable of behaving like a brain. See how this soft polymer is able to process sensing, thinking, and acting abilities without needing extra help.

“We have created the first example of an engineering material that can simultaneously sense, think and act upon mechanical stress without requiring additional circuits to process such signals,” said principal investigator Ryan Harne . “The soft polymer material acts like a brain that can receive digital strings of information that are then processed, resulting in new sequences of digital information that can control reactions.”