Exact schedule: 8:15-8:55
Bio-inspired intelligent materials draw on nature's ability to sense, remember and adapt through matter itself. I will show how liquid crystal polymer networks can be programmed from molecules to devices, creating coordinated, history-dependent responses. Examples include reconfigurable tactile surfaces, perspiring robotic skins, autonomous actuators and trainable photonic materials. These systems reveal how sensing, actuation and memory emerge from collective order and phase transitions rather than external computation. I will conclude with a brief vision for self-learning soft matter in haptics and soft robotics. To help students understand what liquid crystals are, I will also give a short lecture explaining how molecular order produces their distinctive optical properties and how external stimuli control their behavior.