Active solids consume energy to allow for actuation and shape change not possible in equilibrium. I will present our recent work about the formation and coarsening of dynamical patterns when active solids undergo instabilities [1]. Our results unveil surprising facets at the intersection of active matter, patterns, and robotics.

[1] Wave coarsening drives time crystallization in active solids. Jonas Veenstra, Jack Binysh, Vito Seinen, Rutger Naber, Damien Robledo-Poisson, Andres Hunt, Wim van Saarloos, Anton Souslov, Corentin Coulais. arXiv:2508.20052