{"625879":{"#nid":"625879","#data":{"type":"news","title":"MURI Launches at Georgia Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA single ant can\u0026rsquo;t accomplish much, but an entire colony can gather food, build nests, and protect the queen. When powerless individuals can accomplish powerful goals together, it\u0026rsquo;s called collective emergent behavior, and it\u0026rsquo;s something researchers in physics, robotics, and computer science are trying to understand better.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHarnessing collective emergent behavior could lead to exciting new initiatives in computing. More than 40 researchers gathered at Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s CODA building on August 22 to discuss these possibilities at the kick-off for a $6.25 million Department of Defense\u0026rsquo;s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURI) grant to study the phenomena over a five-year period.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EADVANCE Professor in Computing \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.math.gatech.edu\/~randall\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDana Randall\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E leads a diverse team, including mechanical and chemical engineering, physics, and computational science professors from Georgia Tech and three other universities.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team also includes Dunn Family Professor in the School of Physics\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/user\/daniel-goldman\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDaniel Goldman\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E, \u003C\/strong\u003EArizona State computational science and engineering Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EAndrea Richa\u003C\/strong\u003E, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) chemical engineering Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EMichael Strano\u003C\/strong\u003E, MIT physics Associate Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EJeremy England\u003C\/strong\u003E, and Northwestern mechanical engineering Professor \u003Cstrong\u003ETodd Murphey\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This really is the most exceptional group I\u0026rsquo;ve ever collaborated with, and collectively we\u0026rsquo;re trying to do something even greater than we\u0026rsquo;d do individually\u0026mdash;true to the theme of MURI,\u0026rdquo; said Randall, who is also a professor in the School of Computer Science and co-executive director of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ideas.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EInstitute for Data Engineering and Science.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Possibilities of Emergent Behavior\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEmergent behavior is when microscopic changes can impact an entire system, like in an ant colony or robotic swarm. Although this has been observed in physics and computation, there has been no formal theoretical framework to explain how it functions until this work. The researchers will use basic algorithms on simple machines to perform complex tasks to predict and design emergent behaviors within computation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E[\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gtcomputing2017.cc.gatech.edu\/#research\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ERELATED: Research and Collaboration Thrive @ GT Computing]\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This MURI brings together Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s main areas of strength and expertise,\u0026rdquo; said Executive Vice President for Research \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/meet-dr-chaouki-t-abdallah\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChaouki Abdallah\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u0026ldquo;The partnership with other universities makes it really exciting. Hopefully we will solve some of these problems.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe MURI\u0026rsquo;s Goals\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThroughout the day, researchers explained their respective plans to tackle each of MURI\u0026rsquo;s three aims:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026middot;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; identifying and predicting emergent computation\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026middot;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; actively evolving systems\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026middot;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; determining optimal design and control\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Richa, the first step is one of discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;From a local distributed algorithm point of view, it\u0026rsquo;s very difficult,\u0026rdquo; said Richa. \u0026ldquo;For example, it\u0026rsquo;s easy to introduce phase transitions globally, but the challenge lies in handling multiple concurrent waves of transition in the system.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo do this, researchers must discover which experimental and theoretical characteristics create emergent computation. Then they must determine how to model system capabilities, find language for describing what is possible, and learn how things can be designed to perform certain tasks.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOnce the systems are understood, researchers work to use them to perform directed initiatives. These include efficient computation, finding equivalences between computation and physical properties, and employing fluctuation reduction as a design principle for cultivating active matter.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGoldman will explore this through his \u0026quot;smarticles,\u0026rsquo;\u0026rsquo; a collective of simply computed robots.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re discovering how to make a task-specific robot made of non-specific task incapable robots,\u0026rdquo; he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe third aim intends to predictably manipulate the behavior by finding optimization-based principles to design and control emergent computation systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis portion of the project is about discovering limitations and possibilities to achieve collective emergent behavior of an ensemble. This includes determining metrics for emergence and physical constraints that limit the system, and exploiting the system to solve prohibitively complicated computations.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Part of the excitement is not knowing what might be next,\u0026rdquo; Randall said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"More than 40 researchers gathered at Georgia Tech\u2019s CODA building on August 22 to discuss these possibilities at the kick-off for a $6.25 million Department of Defense\u2019s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURI) grant to study the phenomena"}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2019-09-09 19:26:04","changed_gmt":"2019-09-09 19:26:52","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-09-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-09-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"625880":{"id":"625880","type":"image","title":"Dana at MURI","body":null,"created":"1568057194","gmt_created":"2019-09-09 19:26:34","changed":"1568057194","gmt_changed":"2019-09-09 19:26:34","alt":"Dana Randall presents","file":{"fid":"238283","name":"20190822_092749_HDR.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/20190822_092749_HDR.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/20190822_092749_HDR.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":435364,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/20190822_092749_HDR.jpg?itok=5DbhoEgx"}}},"media_ids":["625880"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50875","name":"School of Computer Science"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Communications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:tess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Etess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["tess.malone@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}