Seminar with Speaker Raffaello D'Andrea
Abstract |
To an educated layperson, the second law of thermodynamics states that natural processes tend to move towards a state of greater disorder. One can make this more precise by introducing the notion of entropy to quantitatively describe disorder and defining a natural process to be one that is isolated from the rest of the world. No violations of the second law have ever been observed at the macro-scale. The mystery begins when one digs a little bit deeper and asks the seemingly simple question: Why? This is exactly what James Clerk Maxwell did in 1867 when he introduced Maxwell’s Demon and came up with a thought experiment that seemingly violates the second law. Information theory was seemingly brought to the rescue more than 100 years later, but this has largely served to obfuscate what is, in fact, a simple concept when viewed through the lens of dynamics. In this talk I will explain why Maxwell’s Demon cannot be built, using only simple arguments from dynamics readily accessible to undergraduate students. Along the way, I will present two new demons – not as easily dismissed as Maxwell’s -- that also seem to violate the second law, without an obvious information-theoretic rationalization. |
Biography |
Raffaello (Raff) D'Andrea is a professor, engineer, artist, and entrepreneur.
He earned his PhD from Caltech and began his career at Cornell, where he co-founded the Systems Engineering program and led the Robot Soccer Team to four RoboCup world championships. In 2003, he co-founded Kiva Systems, which revolutionized warehouse automation before its acquisition by Amazon, later rebranded as Amazon Robotics. In 2008, Raff joined ETH Zurich, where his research team develops pioneering robotics platforms, including Cubli, the Flying Machine Arena, and CyberRunner.
In 2014, he co-founded Verity, a company specializing in AI-powered, drone-enabled inventory tracking systems and mobile intelligence. Verity’s technology is now deployed in over 100 warehouses worldwide with clients such as IKEA, Maersk, and UPS. Raff’s artistic contributions include drone choreographies for Cirque du Soleil, Céline Dion and Metallica, with his works featured at the Venice Biennale and in the National Gallery of Canada.
Raff is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and the Logistics Hall of Fame. He has received the Engelberger Robotics Award and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Award and is named as an inventor on over 100 patents.