Roadmap for animate matter

Giorgio Volpe¹, Nuno A M Araújo^{2

3}, Maria Guix⁴, Mark Miodownik⁵, Nicolas Martin⁶, Laura Alvarez⁶, Juliane Simmchen⁷, Roberto Di Leonardo^{8

9}, Nicola Pellicciotta^{8

9}, Quentin Martinet¹⁰, Jérémie Palacci¹⁰, Wai Kit Ng¹¹, Dhruv Saxena¹¹, Riccardo Sapienza¹¹, Sara Nadine¹², João F Mano¹², Reza Mahdavi¹³, Caroline Beck Adiels¹³, Joe Forth^{14

15}, Christian Santangelo¹⁶, Stefano Palagi¹⁷, Ji Min Seok¹⁸, Victoria A Webster-Wood¹⁹, Shuhong Wang²⁰, Lining Yao²¹, Amirreza Aghakhani²², Thomas Barois²³, Hamid Kellay²³, Corentin Coulais²⁴, Martin van Hecke^{25

26}, Christopher J Pierce²⁷, Tianyu Wang^{27

28

29}, Baxi Chong²⁷, Daniel I Goldman²⁷, Andreagiovanni Reina^{30

31}, Vito Trianni³², Giovanni Volpe¹³, Richard Beckett³³, Sean P Nair³⁴, Rachel Armstrong³⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University College London 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, United Kingdom.
² Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
³ Centro de Física Teórica e Computacional, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Physical Chemistry, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, University of Barcelona 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London London, United Kingdom.
⁶ University of Bordeaux-CNRS, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal UMR 5031, 115 Avenue du Dr Albert Schweitzer, 33600 Pessac, France.
⁷ Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde Cathedral Street, Glasgow, G1 1BX, United Kingdom.
⁸ Department of Physics, 'Sapienza' University of Rome Rome 00185, Italy.
⁹ Soft and Living Matter Laboratory, NANOTEC-CNR, Institute of Nanotechnology Rome 00185, Italy  .
¹⁰ Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) Klosterneuburg, Austria.
¹¹ Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics, Imperial College London London, United Kingdom.
¹² CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
¹³ Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, University of Liverpool Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, United Kingdom.
¹⁵ Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool Oxford Street, Liverpool L69 7ZE, United Kingdom.
¹⁶ Physics Department, Syracuse University Syracuse, NY 13244, United States of America.
¹⁷ The BioRobotics Institute and Department of Excellence in Robotics & AI, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies Pisa, Tuscany 56025, Italy.
¹⁸ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
¹⁹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
²⁰ Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
²¹ Morphing Matter Lab, Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley Berkeley, United States of America.
²² Institute of Biomaterials and Biomolecular Systems, University of Stuttgart Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
²³ University of Bordeaux, CNRS, LOMA, UMR 5798 F-33400 Talence, France.
²⁴ University of Amsterdam, Institute of Physics, Science Park 904 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
²⁵ Huygens-Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, Universiteit Leiden PO Box 9504, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands.
²⁶ AMOLF, Science Park 104 1098 XG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
²⁷ School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332, United States of America.
²⁸ Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, United States of America.
²⁹ George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, United States of America.
³⁰ Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Postbox 687, Universitätsstraße 10 78464 Konstanz, Germany.
³¹ Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Universitätsstraße 10, 78464, Konstanz, Germany.
³² Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council Via Gian Domenico Romagnosi 18, 00196 Rome, Italy.
³³ The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London London, United Kingdom.
³⁴ Eastman Dental Institute, University College London London, United Kingdom.
³⁵ Department of Architecture, Campus Sint-Lucas, KU Leuven Ghent, Belgium.

PMID: 40609594
DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/adebd3

Review

Roadmap for animate matter

Giorgio Volpe et al. J Phys Condens Matter. 2025.

. 2025 Aug 13;37(33).

doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/adebd3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University College London 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, United Kingdom.
² Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
³ Centro de Física Teórica e Computacional, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Physical Chemistry, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, University of Barcelona 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London London, United Kingdom.
⁶ University of Bordeaux-CNRS, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal UMR 5031, 115 Avenue du Dr Albert Schweitzer, 33600 Pessac, France.
⁷ Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde Cathedral Street, Glasgow, G1 1BX, United Kingdom.
⁸ Department of Physics, 'Sapienza' University of Rome Rome 00185, Italy.
⁹ Soft and Living Matter Laboratory, NANOTEC-CNR, Institute of Nanotechnology Rome 00185, Italy  .
¹⁰ Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) Klosterneuburg, Austria.
¹¹ Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics, Imperial College London London, United Kingdom.
¹² CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
¹³ Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, University of Liverpool Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, United Kingdom.
¹⁵ Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool Oxford Street, Liverpool L69 7ZE, United Kingdom.
¹⁶ Physics Department, Syracuse University Syracuse, NY 13244, United States of America.
¹⁷ The BioRobotics Institute and Department of Excellence in Robotics & AI, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies Pisa, Tuscany 56025, Italy.
¹⁸ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
¹⁹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
²⁰ Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
²¹ Morphing Matter Lab, Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley Berkeley, United States of America.
²² Institute of Biomaterials and Biomolecular Systems, University of Stuttgart Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
²³ University of Bordeaux, CNRS, LOMA, UMR 5798 F-33400 Talence, France.
²⁴ University of Amsterdam, Institute of Physics, Science Park 904 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
²⁵ Huygens-Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, Universiteit Leiden PO Box 9504, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands.
²⁶ AMOLF, Science Park 104 1098 XG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
²⁷ School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332, United States of America.
²⁸ Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, United States of America.
²⁹ George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, United States of America.
³⁰ Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Postbox 687, Universitätsstraße 10 78464 Konstanz, Germany.
³¹ Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Universitätsstraße 10, 78464, Konstanz, Germany.
³² Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council Via Gian Domenico Romagnosi 18, 00196 Rome, Italy.
³³ The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London London, United Kingdom.
³⁴ Eastman Dental Institute, University College London London, United Kingdom.
³⁵ Department of Architecture, Campus Sint-Lucas, KU Leuven Ghent, Belgium.

PMID: 40609594
DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/adebd3

Abstract

Humanity has long sought inspiration from nature to innovate materials and devices. As science advances, nature-inspired materials are becoming part of our lives. Animate materials, characterized by their activity, adaptability, and autonomy, emulate properties of living systems. While only biological materials fully embody these principles, artificial versions are advancing rapidly, promising transformative impacts in the circular economy, health and climate resilience within a generation. This roadmap presents authoritative perspectives on animate materials across different disciplines and scales, highlighting their interdisciplinary nature and potential applications in diverse fields including nanotechnology, robotics and the built environment. It underscores the need for concerted efforts to address shared challenges such as complexity management, scalability, evolvability, interdisciplinary collaboration, and ethical and environmental considerations. The framework defined by classifying materials based on their level of animacy can guide this emerging field to encourage cooperation and responsible development. By unravelling the mysteries of living matter and leveraging its principles, we can design materials and systems that will transform our world in a more sustainable manner.

Keywords: active matter; animate materials; animate matter; roadmap.

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Roadmap for animate matter

Affiliations

Roadmap for animate matter

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

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LinkOut - more resources

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Research Materials