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arXiv · 1908.05808

Autonomous navigation of shape-shifting microswimmers

Yong Dou·Kyle J. M. Bishop
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Abstract

We describe a method for programming the autonomous navigation of active colloidal particles in response to spatial gradients in a scalar stimulus. Functional behaviors such as positive or negative chemotaxis are encoded in the particle shape, which responds to the local stimulus and directs self-propelled particle motions. We demonstrate this approach using a physical model of stimuli-responsive clusters of self-phoretic spheres. We show how multiple autonomous behaviors can be achieved by designing the particle geometry and its stimulus response.

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Yong Dou, Kyle J. M. Bishop. 2019-08-16. Autonomous navigation of shape-shifting microswimmers. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.1.032030

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