Project acronym Actanthrope
Project Computational Foundations of Anthropomorphic Action
Researcher (PI) Jean Paul Laumond
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary Actanthrope intends to promote a neuro-robotics perspective to explore original models of anthropomorphic action. The project targets contributions to humanoid robot autonomy (for rescue and service robotics), to advanced human body simulation (for applications in ergonomics), and to a new theory of embodied intelligence (by promoting a motion-based semiotics of the human action).
Actions take place in the physical space while they originate in the –robot or human– sensory-motor space. Geometry is the core abstraction that makes the link between these spaces. Considering that the structure of actions inherits from that of the body, the underlying intuition is that actions can be segmented within discrete sub-spaces lying in the entire continuous posture space. Such sub-spaces are viewed as symbols bridging deliberative reasoning and reactive control. Actanthrope argues that geometric approaches to motion segmentation and generation as promising and innovative routes to explore embodied intelligence:
- Motion segmentation: what are the sub-manifolds that define the structure of a given action?
- Motion generation: among all the solution paths within a given sub-manifold, what is the underlying law that makes the selection?
In Robotics these questions are related to the competition between abstract symbol manipulation and physical signal processing. In Computational Neuroscience the questions refer to the quest of motion invariants. The ambition of the project is to promote a dual perspective: exploring the computational foundations of human action to make better robots, while simultaneously doing better robotics to better understand human action.
A unique “Anthropomorphic Action Factory” supports the methodology. It aims at attracting to a single lab, researchers with complementary know-how and solid mathematical background. All of them will benefit from unique equipments, while being stimulated by four challenges dealing with locomotion and manipulation actions.
Summary
Actanthrope intends to promote a neuro-robotics perspective to explore original models of anthropomorphic action. The project targets contributions to humanoid robot autonomy (for rescue and service robotics), to advanced human body simulation (for applications in ergonomics), and to a new theory of embodied intelligence (by promoting a motion-based semiotics of the human action).
Actions take place in the physical space while they originate in the –robot or human– sensory-motor space. Geometry is the core abstraction that makes the link between these spaces. Considering that the structure of actions inherits from that of the body, the underlying intuition is that actions can be segmented within discrete sub-spaces lying in the entire continuous posture space. Such sub-spaces are viewed as symbols bridging deliberative reasoning and reactive control. Actanthrope argues that geometric approaches to motion segmentation and generation as promising and innovative routes to explore embodied intelligence:
- Motion segmentation: what are the sub-manifolds that define the structure of a given action?
- Motion generation: among all the solution paths within a given sub-manifold, what is the underlying law that makes the selection?
In Robotics these questions are related to the competition between abstract symbol manipulation and physical signal processing. In Computational Neuroscience the questions refer to the quest of motion invariants. The ambition of the project is to promote a dual perspective: exploring the computational foundations of human action to make better robots, while simultaneously doing better robotics to better understand human action.
A unique “Anthropomorphic Action Factory” supports the methodology. It aims at attracting to a single lab, researchers with complementary know-how and solid mathematical background. All of them will benefit from unique equipments, while being stimulated by four challenges dealing with locomotion and manipulation actions.
Max ERC Funding
2 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-01-01, End date: 2018-12-31
Project acronym AFMIDMOA
Project "Applying Fundamental Mathematics in Discrete Mathematics, Optimization, and Algorithmics"
Researcher (PI) Alexander Schrijver
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary "This proposal aims at strengthening the connections between more fundamentally oriented areas of mathematics like algebra, geometry, analysis, and topology, and the more applied oriented and more recently emerging disciplines of discrete mathematics, optimization, and algorithmics.
The overall goal of the project is to obtain, with methods from fundamental mathematics, new effective tools to unravel the complexity of structures like graphs, networks, codes, knots, polynomials, and tensors, and to get a grip on such complex structures by new efficient characterizations, sharper bounds, and faster algorithms.
In the last few years, there have been several new developments where methods from representation theory, invariant theory, algebraic geometry, measure theory, functional analysis, and topology found new applications in discrete mathematics and optimization, both theoretically and algorithmically. Among the typical application areas are networks, coding, routing, timetabling, statistical and quantum physics, and computer science.
The project focuses in particular on:
A. Understanding partition functions with invariant theory and algebraic geometry
B. Graph limits, regularity, Hilbert spaces, and low rank approximation of polynomials
C. Reducing complexity in optimization by exploiting symmetry with representation theory
D. Reducing complexity in discrete optimization by homotopy and cohomology
These research modules are interconnected by themes like symmetry, regularity, and complexity, and by common methods from algebra, analysis, geometry, and topology."
Summary
"This proposal aims at strengthening the connections between more fundamentally oriented areas of mathematics like algebra, geometry, analysis, and topology, and the more applied oriented and more recently emerging disciplines of discrete mathematics, optimization, and algorithmics.
The overall goal of the project is to obtain, with methods from fundamental mathematics, new effective tools to unravel the complexity of structures like graphs, networks, codes, knots, polynomials, and tensors, and to get a grip on such complex structures by new efficient characterizations, sharper bounds, and faster algorithms.
In the last few years, there have been several new developments where methods from representation theory, invariant theory, algebraic geometry, measure theory, functional analysis, and topology found new applications in discrete mathematics and optimization, both theoretically and algorithmically. Among the typical application areas are networks, coding, routing, timetabling, statistical and quantum physics, and computer science.
The project focuses in particular on:
A. Understanding partition functions with invariant theory and algebraic geometry
B. Graph limits, regularity, Hilbert spaces, and low rank approximation of polynomials
C. Reducing complexity in optimization by exploiting symmetry with representation theory
D. Reducing complexity in discrete optimization by homotopy and cohomology
These research modules are interconnected by themes like symmetry, regularity, and complexity, and by common methods from algebra, analysis, geometry, and topology."
Max ERC Funding
2 001 598 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-01-01, End date: 2018-12-31
Project acronym ANALYTIC
Project ANALYTIC PROPERTIES OF INFINITE GROUPS:
limits, curvature, and randomness
Researcher (PI) Gulnara Arzhantseva
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE1, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary The overall goal of this project is to develop new concepts and techniques in geometric and asymptotic group theory for a systematic study of the analytic properties of discrete groups. These are properties depending on the unitary representation theory of the group. The fundamental examples are amenability, discovered by von Neumann in 1929, and property (T), introduced by Kazhdan in 1967.
My main objective is to establish the precise relations between groups recently appeared in K-theory and topology such as C*-exact groups and groups coarsely embeddable into a Hilbert space, versus those discovered in ergodic theory and operator algebra, for example, sofic and hyperlinear groups. This is a first ever attempt to confront the analytic behavior of so different nature. I plan to work on crucial open questions: Is every coarsely embeddable group C*-exact? Is every group sofic? Is every hyperlinear group sofic?
My motivation is two-fold:
- Many outstanding conjectures were recently solved for these groups, e.g. the Novikov conjecture (1965) for coarsely embeddable groups by Yu in 2000 and the Gottschalk surjunctivity conjecture (1973) for sofic groups by Gromov in 1999. However, their group-theoretical structure remains mysterious.
- In recent years, geometric group theory has undergone significant changes, mainly due to the growing impact of this theory on other branches of mathematics. However, the interplay between geometric, asymptotic, and analytic group properties has not yet been fully understood.
The main innovative contribution of this proposal lies in the interaction between 3 axes: (i) limits of groups, in the space of marked groups or metric ultralimits; (ii) analytic properties of groups with curvature, of lacunary or relatively hyperbolic groups; (iii) random groups, in a topological or statistical meaning. As a result, I will describe the above apparently unrelated classes of groups in a unified way and will detail their algebraic behavior.
Summary
The overall goal of this project is to develop new concepts and techniques in geometric and asymptotic group theory for a systematic study of the analytic properties of discrete groups. These are properties depending on the unitary representation theory of the group. The fundamental examples are amenability, discovered by von Neumann in 1929, and property (T), introduced by Kazhdan in 1967.
My main objective is to establish the precise relations between groups recently appeared in K-theory and topology such as C*-exact groups and groups coarsely embeddable into a Hilbert space, versus those discovered in ergodic theory and operator algebra, for example, sofic and hyperlinear groups. This is a first ever attempt to confront the analytic behavior of so different nature. I plan to work on crucial open questions: Is every coarsely embeddable group C*-exact? Is every group sofic? Is every hyperlinear group sofic?
My motivation is two-fold:
- Many outstanding conjectures were recently solved for these groups, e.g. the Novikov conjecture (1965) for coarsely embeddable groups by Yu in 2000 and the Gottschalk surjunctivity conjecture (1973) for sofic groups by Gromov in 1999. However, their group-theoretical structure remains mysterious.
- In recent years, geometric group theory has undergone significant changes, mainly due to the growing impact of this theory on other branches of mathematics. However, the interplay between geometric, asymptotic, and analytic group properties has not yet been fully understood.
The main innovative contribution of this proposal lies in the interaction between 3 axes: (i) limits of groups, in the space of marked groups or metric ultralimits; (ii) analytic properties of groups with curvature, of lacunary or relatively hyperbolic groups; (iii) random groups, in a topological or statistical meaning. As a result, I will describe the above apparently unrelated classes of groups in a unified way and will detail their algebraic behavior.
Max ERC Funding
1 065 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31
Project acronym ANAMULTISCALE
Project Analysis of Multiscale Systems Driven by Functionals
Researcher (PI) Alexander Mielke
Host Institution (HI) FORSCHUNGSVERBUND BERLIN EV
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2010-AdG_20100224
Summary Many complex phenomena in the sciences are described by nonlinear partial differential equations, the solutions of which exhibit oscillations and concentration effects on multiple temporal or spatial scales. Our aim is to use methods from applied analysis to contribute to the understanding of the interplay of effects on different scales. The central question is to determine those quantities on the microscale which are needed to for the correct description of the macroscopic evolution.
We aim to develop a mathematical framework for analyzing and modeling coupled systems with multiple scales. This will include Hamiltonian dynamics as well as different types of dissipation like gradient flows or rate-independent dynamics. The choice of models will be guided by specific applications in material modeling (e.g., thermoplasticity, pattern formation, porous media) and optoelectronics (pulse interaction, Maxwell-Bloch systems, semiconductors, quantum mechanics). The research will address mathematically fundamental issues like existence and stability of solutions but will mainly be devoted to the modeling of multiscale phenomena in evolution systems. We will focus on systems with geometric structures, where the dynamics is driven by functionals. Thus, we can go much beyond the classical theory of homogenization and singular perturbations. The novel features of our approach are
- the combination of different dynamical effects in one framework,
- the use of geometric and metric structures for coupled partial differential equations,
- the exploitation of Gamma-convergence for evolution systems driven by functionals.
Summary
Many complex phenomena in the sciences are described by nonlinear partial differential equations, the solutions of which exhibit oscillations and concentration effects on multiple temporal or spatial scales. Our aim is to use methods from applied analysis to contribute to the understanding of the interplay of effects on different scales. The central question is to determine those quantities on the microscale which are needed to for the correct description of the macroscopic evolution.
We aim to develop a mathematical framework for analyzing and modeling coupled systems with multiple scales. This will include Hamiltonian dynamics as well as different types of dissipation like gradient flows or rate-independent dynamics. The choice of models will be guided by specific applications in material modeling (e.g., thermoplasticity, pattern formation, porous media) and optoelectronics (pulse interaction, Maxwell-Bloch systems, semiconductors, quantum mechanics). The research will address mathematically fundamental issues like existence and stability of solutions but will mainly be devoted to the modeling of multiscale phenomena in evolution systems. We will focus on systems with geometric structures, where the dynamics is driven by functionals. Thus, we can go much beyond the classical theory of homogenization and singular perturbations. The novel features of our approach are
- the combination of different dynamical effects in one framework,
- the use of geometric and metric structures for coupled partial differential equations,
- the exploitation of Gamma-convergence for evolution systems driven by functionals.
Max ERC Funding
1 390 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2017-03-31
Project acronym ANOPTSETCON
Project Analysis of optimal sets and optimal constants: old questions and new results
Researcher (PI) Aldo Pratelli
Host Institution (HI) FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITAET ERLANGEN NUERNBERG
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE1, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary The analysis of geometric and functional inequalities naturally leads to consider the extremal cases, thus
looking for optimal sets, or optimal functions, or optimal constants. The most classical examples are the (different versions of the) isoperimetric inequality and the Sobolev-like inequalities. Much is known about equality cases and best constants, but there are still many questions which seem quite natural but yet have no answer. For instance, it is not known, even in the 2-dimensional space, the answer of a question by Brezis: which set,
among those with a given volume, has the biggest Sobolev-Poincaré constant for p=1? This is a very natural problem, and it appears reasonable that the optimal set should be the ball, but this has never been proved. The interest in problems like this relies not only in the extreme simplicity of the questions and in their classical flavour, but also in the new ideas and techniques which are needed to provide the answers.
The main techniques that we aim to use are fine arguments of symmetrization, geometric constructions and tools from mass transportation (which is well known to be deeply connected with functional inequalities). These are the basic tools that we already used to reach, in last years, many results in a specific direction, namely the search of sharp quantitative inequalities. Our first result, together with Fusco and Maggi, showed what follows. Everybody knows that the set which minimizes the perimeter with given volume is the ball.
But is it true that a set which almost minimizes the perimeter must be close to a ball? The question had been posed in the 1920's and many partial result appeared in the years. In our paper (Ann. of Math., 2007) we proved the sharp result. Many other results of this kind were obtained in last two years.
Summary
The analysis of geometric and functional inequalities naturally leads to consider the extremal cases, thus
looking for optimal sets, or optimal functions, or optimal constants. The most classical examples are the (different versions of the) isoperimetric inequality and the Sobolev-like inequalities. Much is known about equality cases and best constants, but there are still many questions which seem quite natural but yet have no answer. For instance, it is not known, even in the 2-dimensional space, the answer of a question by Brezis: which set,
among those with a given volume, has the biggest Sobolev-Poincaré constant for p=1? This is a very natural problem, and it appears reasonable that the optimal set should be the ball, but this has never been proved. The interest in problems like this relies not only in the extreme simplicity of the questions and in their classical flavour, but also in the new ideas and techniques which are needed to provide the answers.
The main techniques that we aim to use are fine arguments of symmetrization, geometric constructions and tools from mass transportation (which is well known to be deeply connected with functional inequalities). These are the basic tools that we already used to reach, in last years, many results in a specific direction, namely the search of sharp quantitative inequalities. Our first result, together with Fusco and Maggi, showed what follows. Everybody knows that the set which minimizes the perimeter with given volume is the ball.
But is it true that a set which almost minimizes the perimeter must be close to a ball? The question had been posed in the 1920's and many partial result appeared in the years. In our paper (Ann. of Math., 2007) we proved the sharp result. Many other results of this kind were obtained in last two years.
Max ERC Funding
540 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-08-01, End date: 2015-07-31
Project acronym ANTHOS
Project Analytic Number Theory: Higher Order Structures
Researcher (PI) Valentin Blomer
Host Institution (HI) GEORG-AUGUST-UNIVERSITAT GOTTINGENSTIFTUNG OFFENTLICHEN RECHTS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE1, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary This is a proposal for research at the interface of analytic number theory, automorphic forms and algebraic geometry. Motivated by fundamental conjectures in number theory, classical problems will be investigated in higher order situations: general number fields, automorphic forms on higher rank groups, the arithmetic of algebraic varieties of higher degree. In particular, I want to focus on
- computation of moments of L-function of degree 3 and higher with applications to subconvexity and/or non-vanishing, as well as subconvexity for multiple L-functions;
- bounds for sup-norms of cusp forms on various spaces and equidistribution of Hecke correspondences;
- automorphic forms on higher rank groups and general number fields, in particular new bounds towards the Ramanujan conjecture;
- a proof of Manin's conjecture for a certain class of singular algebraic varieties.
The underlying methods are closely related; for example, rational points on algebraic varieties
will be counted by a multiple L-series technique.
Summary
This is a proposal for research at the interface of analytic number theory, automorphic forms and algebraic geometry. Motivated by fundamental conjectures in number theory, classical problems will be investigated in higher order situations: general number fields, automorphic forms on higher rank groups, the arithmetic of algebraic varieties of higher degree. In particular, I want to focus on
- computation of moments of L-function of degree 3 and higher with applications to subconvexity and/or non-vanishing, as well as subconvexity for multiple L-functions;
- bounds for sup-norms of cusp forms on various spaces and equidistribution of Hecke correspondences;
- automorphic forms on higher rank groups and general number fields, in particular new bounds towards the Ramanujan conjecture;
- a proof of Manin's conjecture for a certain class of singular algebraic varieties.
The underlying methods are closely related; for example, rational points on algebraic varieties
will be counted by a multiple L-series technique.
Max ERC Funding
1 004 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-10-01, End date: 2015-09-30
Project acronym AQSER
Project Automorphic q-series and their application
Researcher (PI) Kathrin Bringmann
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET ZU KOELN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE1, ERC-2013-StG
Summary This proposal aims to unravel mysteries at the frontier of number theory and other areas of mathematics and physics. The main focus will be to understand and exploit “modularity” of q-hypergeometric series. “Modular forms are functions on the complex plane that are inordinately symmetric.” (Mazur) The motivation comes from the wide-reaching applications of modularity in combinatorics, percolation, Lie theory, and physics (black holes).
The interplay between automorphic forms, q-series, and other areas of mathematics and physics is often two-sided. On the one hand, the other areas provide interesting examples of automorphic objects and predict their behavior. Sometimes these even motivate new classes of automorphic objects which have not been previously studied. On the other hand, knowing that certain generating functions are modular gives one access to deep theoretical tools to prove results in other areas. “Mathematics is a language, and we need that language to understand the physics of our universe.”(Ooguri) Understanding this interplay has attracted attention of researchers from a variety of areas. However, proofs of modularity of q-hypergeometric series currently fall far short of a comprehensive theory to describe the interplay between them and automorphic forms. A recent conjecture of W. Nahm relates the modularity of such series to K-theory. In this proposal I aim to fill this gap and provide a better understanding of this interplay by building a general structural framework enveloping these q-series. For this I will employ new kinds of automorphic objects and embed the functions of interest into bigger families
A successful outcome of the proposed research will open further horizons and also answer open questions, even those in other areas which were not addressed in this proposal; for example the new theory could be applied to better understand Donaldson invariants.
Summary
This proposal aims to unravel mysteries at the frontier of number theory and other areas of mathematics and physics. The main focus will be to understand and exploit “modularity” of q-hypergeometric series. “Modular forms are functions on the complex plane that are inordinately symmetric.” (Mazur) The motivation comes from the wide-reaching applications of modularity in combinatorics, percolation, Lie theory, and physics (black holes).
The interplay between automorphic forms, q-series, and other areas of mathematics and physics is often two-sided. On the one hand, the other areas provide interesting examples of automorphic objects and predict their behavior. Sometimes these even motivate new classes of automorphic objects which have not been previously studied. On the other hand, knowing that certain generating functions are modular gives one access to deep theoretical tools to prove results in other areas. “Mathematics is a language, and we need that language to understand the physics of our universe.”(Ooguri) Understanding this interplay has attracted attention of researchers from a variety of areas. However, proofs of modularity of q-hypergeometric series currently fall far short of a comprehensive theory to describe the interplay between them and automorphic forms. A recent conjecture of W. Nahm relates the modularity of such series to K-theory. In this proposal I aim to fill this gap and provide a better understanding of this interplay by building a general structural framework enveloping these q-series. For this I will employ new kinds of automorphic objects and embed the functions of interest into bigger families
A successful outcome of the proposed research will open further horizons and also answer open questions, even those in other areas which were not addressed in this proposal; for example the new theory could be applied to better understand Donaldson invariants.
Max ERC Funding
1 240 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-01-01, End date: 2019-04-30
Project acronym BESTDECISION
Project "Behavioural Economics and Strategic Decision Making: Theory, Empirics, and Experiments"
Researcher (PI) Vincent Paul Crawford
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH1, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary "I will study questions of central microeconomic importance via interwoven theoretical, empirical, and experimental analyses, from a behavioural perspective combining standard methods with assumptions that better reflect evidence on behaviour and psychological insights. The contributions of behavioural economics have been widely recognized, but the benefits of its insights are far from fully realized. I propose four lines of inquiry that focus on how institutions interact with cognition and behaviour, chosen for their potential to reshape our understanding of important questions and their synergies across lines.
The first line will study nonparametric identification and estimation of reference-dependent versions of the standard microeconomic model of consumer demand or labour supply, the subject of hundreds of empirical studies and perhaps the single most important model in microeconomics. It will allow such studies to consider relevant behavioural factors without imposing structural assumptions as in previous work.
The second line will analyze history-dependent learning in financial crises theoretically and experimentally, with the goal of quantifying how market structure influences the likelihood of a crisis.
The third line will study strategic thinking experimentally, using a powerful new design that links subjects’ searches for hidden payoff information (“eye-movements”) much more directly to thinking.
The fourth line will significantly advance Myerson and Satterthwaite’s analyses of optimal design of bargaining rules and auctions, which first went beyond the analysis of given institutions to study what is possible by designing new institutions, replacing their equilibrium assumption with a nonequilibrium model that is well supported by experiments.
The synergies among these four lines’ theoretical analyses, empirical methods, and data analyses will accelerate progress on each line well beyond what would be possible in a piecemeal approach."
Summary
"I will study questions of central microeconomic importance via interwoven theoretical, empirical, and experimental analyses, from a behavioural perspective combining standard methods with assumptions that better reflect evidence on behaviour and psychological insights. The contributions of behavioural economics have been widely recognized, but the benefits of its insights are far from fully realized. I propose four lines of inquiry that focus on how institutions interact with cognition and behaviour, chosen for their potential to reshape our understanding of important questions and their synergies across lines.
The first line will study nonparametric identification and estimation of reference-dependent versions of the standard microeconomic model of consumer demand or labour supply, the subject of hundreds of empirical studies and perhaps the single most important model in microeconomics. It will allow such studies to consider relevant behavioural factors without imposing structural assumptions as in previous work.
The second line will analyze history-dependent learning in financial crises theoretically and experimentally, with the goal of quantifying how market structure influences the likelihood of a crisis.
The third line will study strategic thinking experimentally, using a powerful new design that links subjects’ searches for hidden payoff information (“eye-movements”) much more directly to thinking.
The fourth line will significantly advance Myerson and Satterthwaite’s analyses of optimal design of bargaining rules and auctions, which first went beyond the analysis of given institutions to study what is possible by designing new institutions, replacing their equilibrium assumption with a nonequilibrium model that is well supported by experiments.
The synergies among these four lines’ theoretical analyses, empirical methods, and data analyses will accelerate progress on each line well beyond what would be possible in a piecemeal approach."
Max ERC Funding
1 985 373 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-04-01, End date: 2019-03-31
Project acronym BETTERSENSE
Project Nanodevice Engineering for a Better Chemical Gas Sensing Technology
Researcher (PI) Juan Daniel Prades Garcia
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2013-StG
Summary BetterSense aims to solve the two main problems in current gas sensor technologies: the high power consumption and the poor selectivity. For the former, we propose a radically new approach: to integrate the sensing components and the energy sources intimately, at the nanoscale, in order to achieve a new kind of sensor concept featuring zero power consumption. For the latter, we will mimic the biological receptors designing a kit of gas-specific molecular organic functionalizations to reach ultra-high gas selectivity figures, comparable to those of biological processes. Both cutting-edge concepts will be developed in parallel an integrated together to render a totally new gas sensing technology that surpasses the state-of-the-art.
As a matter of fact, the project will enable, for the first time, the integration of gas detectors in energetically autonomous sensors networks. Additionally, BetterSense will provide an integral solution to the gas sensing challenge by producing a full set of gas-specific sensors over the same platform to ease their integration in multi-analyte systems. Moreover, the project approach will certainly open opportunities in adjacent fields in which power consumption, specificity and nano/micro integration are a concern, such as liquid chemical and biological sensing.
In spite of the promising evidences that demonstrate the feasibility of this proposal, there are still many scientific and technological issues to solve, most of them in the edge of what is known and what is possible today in nano-fabrication and nano/micro integration. For this reason, BetterSense also aims to contribute to the global challenge of making nanodevices compatible with scalable, cost-effective, microelectronic technologies.
For all this, addressing this challenging proposal in full requires a funding scheme compatible with a high-risk/high-gain vision to finance the full dedication of a highly motivated research team with multidisciplinary skill
Summary
BetterSense aims to solve the two main problems in current gas sensor technologies: the high power consumption and the poor selectivity. For the former, we propose a radically new approach: to integrate the sensing components and the energy sources intimately, at the nanoscale, in order to achieve a new kind of sensor concept featuring zero power consumption. For the latter, we will mimic the biological receptors designing a kit of gas-specific molecular organic functionalizations to reach ultra-high gas selectivity figures, comparable to those of biological processes. Both cutting-edge concepts will be developed in parallel an integrated together to render a totally new gas sensing technology that surpasses the state-of-the-art.
As a matter of fact, the project will enable, for the first time, the integration of gas detectors in energetically autonomous sensors networks. Additionally, BetterSense will provide an integral solution to the gas sensing challenge by producing a full set of gas-specific sensors over the same platform to ease their integration in multi-analyte systems. Moreover, the project approach will certainly open opportunities in adjacent fields in which power consumption, specificity and nano/micro integration are a concern, such as liquid chemical and biological sensing.
In spite of the promising evidences that demonstrate the feasibility of this proposal, there are still many scientific and technological issues to solve, most of them in the edge of what is known and what is possible today in nano-fabrication and nano/micro integration. For this reason, BetterSense also aims to contribute to the global challenge of making nanodevices compatible with scalable, cost-effective, microelectronic technologies.
For all this, addressing this challenging proposal in full requires a funding scheme compatible with a high-risk/high-gain vision to finance the full dedication of a highly motivated research team with multidisciplinary skill
Max ERC Funding
1 498 452 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym BOTMED
Project Microrobotics and Nanomedicine
Researcher (PI) Bradley James Nelson
Host Institution (HI) EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2010-AdG_20100224
Summary The introduction of minimally invasive surgery in the 1980’s created a paradigm shift in surgical procedures. Health care is now in a position to make a more dramatic leap by integrating newly developed wireless microrobotic technologies with nanomedicine to perform precisely targeted, localized endoluminal techniques. Devices capable of entering the human body through natural orifices or small incisions to deliver drugs, perform diagnostic procedures, and excise and repair tissue will be used. These new procedures will result in less trauma to the patient and faster recovery times, and will enable new therapies that have not yet been conceived. In order to realize this, many new technologies must be developed and synergistically integrated, and medical therapies for which the technology will prove successful must be aggressively pursued.
This proposed project will result in the realization of animal trials in which wireless microrobotic devices will be used to investigate a variety of extremely delicate ophthalmic therapies. The therapies to be pursued include the delivery of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) to blocked retinal veins, the peeling of epiretinal membranes from the retina, and the development of diagnostic procedures based on mapping oxygen concentration at the vitreous-retina interface. With successful animal trials, a path to human trials and commercialization will follow. Clearly, many systems in the body have the potential to benefit from the endoluminal technologies that this project considers, including the digestive system, the circulatory system, the urinary system, the central nervous system, the respiratory system, the female reproductive system and even the fetus. Microrobotic retinal therapies will greatly illuminate the potential that the integration of microrobotics and nanomedicine holds for society, and greatly accelerate this trend in Europe.
Summary
The introduction of minimally invasive surgery in the 1980’s created a paradigm shift in surgical procedures. Health care is now in a position to make a more dramatic leap by integrating newly developed wireless microrobotic technologies with nanomedicine to perform precisely targeted, localized endoluminal techniques. Devices capable of entering the human body through natural orifices or small incisions to deliver drugs, perform diagnostic procedures, and excise and repair tissue will be used. These new procedures will result in less trauma to the patient and faster recovery times, and will enable new therapies that have not yet been conceived. In order to realize this, many new technologies must be developed and synergistically integrated, and medical therapies for which the technology will prove successful must be aggressively pursued.
This proposed project will result in the realization of animal trials in which wireless microrobotic devices will be used to investigate a variety of extremely delicate ophthalmic therapies. The therapies to be pursued include the delivery of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) to blocked retinal veins, the peeling of epiretinal membranes from the retina, and the development of diagnostic procedures based on mapping oxygen concentration at the vitreous-retina interface. With successful animal trials, a path to human trials and commercialization will follow. Clearly, many systems in the body have the potential to benefit from the endoluminal technologies that this project considers, including the digestive system, the circulatory system, the urinary system, the central nervous system, the respiratory system, the female reproductive system and even the fetus. Microrobotic retinal therapies will greatly illuminate the potential that the integration of microrobotics and nanomedicine holds for society, and greatly accelerate this trend in Europe.
Max ERC Funding
2 498 044 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31
