Active solids such as cell collectives, colloidal clusters, and active metamaterials exhibit diverse collective phenomena, ranging from rigid body motion to shape-changing mechanisms. The nonlinear dynamics of such active materials remains, however, poorly understood when they host zero-energy deformation modes and when noise is present. Here, we show that stress propagation in a model of active solids induces the spontaneous actuation of multiple soft floppy modes, even without exciting vibrational modes. By introducing an adiabatic approximation, we map the dynamics onto an effective Landau free energy, predicting mode selection and the onset of collective dynamics. These results open new ways to study and design living and robotic materials with multiple modes of locomotion and shape change.Received 21 October 2023Revised 26 January 2024Accepted 3 April 2024DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.238303© 2024 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasCollective behaviorPhysical SystemsAuxetic materialsCollective dynamicsLiving matter & active matterCondensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Model of Active Solids: Rigid Body Motion and Shape-Changing Mechanisms