Smart matter consists of sensors, actuators and computers embedded in physical materials.
These devices can alter physical properties of the material under program control. A key issue for realizing the potential of smart matter is designing the control mechanisms. When the number of devices is large, multiagent systems can provide robust distributed control through analogies with biological ecosystems, economic markets and the scientific community. For an illustration of distributed controls of smart matter, go to a simulation of the dynamics of an unstable chain . An application of quantum computing is described in Quantum Smart Matter , 1996.