In the future, solid objects will react, sense, change and move according to their surroundings.
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In the future, solid objects will react, sense, change and move according to their surroundings. This won’t be a result of clever robotics or electronics, but rather the fundamental properties of the stuff itself. In years to come, we will be living in self-regulating houses, riding self-fixing bicycles, and driving on self-illuminating roads, all thanks to these so-called ‘smart materials’. These are metals, plastics, fabrics and fluids that react to the outside world without any human involvement, and they promise to change the way we live.

Anna Ploszajski is an award-winning materials scientist, engineer and communicator, and in 2017 was named Young Engineer of the Year by the Royal Academy of Engineering. She is a proud member of the Science Showoff Talent Factory and regularly performs stand-up comedy about materials and engineering as part of Science Showoff at venues from the local pub to the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2017 she was a FameLab national finalist.

This talk was filmed in the Ri on 19 March 2018.

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