Electroactive polymer gels as probabilistic reservoir automata for computation

Strong, V., Holderbaum, W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1677-9624 and Hayashi, Y. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9207-6322 (2022) Electroactive polymer gels as probabilistic reservoir automata for computation. iScience, 25 (12). 105558. ISSN 2589-0042 doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105558

Abstract/Summary

Electroactive Polymer (EAP) hydrogels are an active matter material used as actuators in soft robotics. Hydrogels exhibit active matter behaviour through a form of memory and can be used to embody memory systems such as automata. This study exploited EAP responses, finding that EAP memory functions could be utilised for automaton and reservoir computing frameworks. Under sequential electrical stimulation, the mechanical responses of EAPs were represented in a probabilistic Moore automaton framework and expanded through shaping the reservoir’s energy landscape. The EAP automaton reservoir’s computational ability was compared with digital computation to assess EAPs as computational resources. We found that the computation in the EAP's reaction to stimuli can be presented through automaton structures, revealing a potential bridge between EAP’s use as an integrated actuator and controller, i.e., our automaton framework could potentially lead to control systems wherein the computation was embedded into the mediums dynamical responses.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/109059
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Department of Bio-Engineering
Publisher	Cell Press
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