Prof. Daniel I. Goldman, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology

"Robophysical models of living systems enter the real world"

Abstract: Physics of Living Systems (PoLS) has emerged as a vibrant subfield of physics, addressing topics as diverse as protein folding, organism movement and ecosystem dynamics. A feature of much living systems physics research has been the tight interplay of experiment, theory and computational models. For over a decade my group has experimented with a third way of modeling living systems, “robophysical” models which complement analytic and computational models to better facilitate discovery and testing of principles of function in living systems. In this talk I will describe how the robophysical modeling approach has given us insights into organism locomotion and will focus on how such models allow us to discover principles of “mechanical intelligence” in locomotion. Based on such insights, our robophysical laboratory models have begun to develop into actual robots that can locomote effectively in real world environments. And to my surprise, a multilegged robophysical model of a centipede which utilizes redundancy [Chong et al, Science, 2023] and ideas of geometric phase forms the basis of a company I have recently co-founded, Ground Control Robotics, with the goal to discover and control weeds and in specialty crop fields.

Brief bio: Dr. Daniel I. Goldman is a Professor in the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Georgia Power Professor of Excellence. Prof. Goldman became a faculty member at Georgia Tech in January 2007. He is an adjunct member of the School of Biology and is a member of the Interdisciplinary Bioengineering Graduate Program. He is also the co-founder of Ground Control Robotics, Inc.

Prof. Goldman's research program broadly investigates the interaction of biological and physical systems with complex materials like granular media. In particular, he integrates laboratory experiment, computer simulation, and physical and mathematical models to discover principles of movement of a diversity of animals and robots in controlled laboratory substrates.

He received his S.B. in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. He received his PhD in Physics in 2002 from the University of Texas at Austin, studying nonlinear dynamics and granular media. From 2003-2007 he did postdoctoral work in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley studying locomotion biomechanics.

Prof. Goldman was a Dunn Family Professor at Georgia Tech (2018-2023), is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (2014), and has received an NSF CAREER/PECASE award, a DARPA Young Faculty Award, a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface, and the UT Austin Outstanding Dissertation in Physics (2002-2003).