NSF-BSF: Modeling and Control of Collective Dynamics for Externally Driven Planar Microswimmers

这笔赠款将用于研究，使微型机器人设备能够在各种医疗应用中创新使用，包括非侵入性手术、药物输送以及感染和不孕不育的治疗，从而促进科学进步，促进国家繁荣和健康。部署这种微型机器人装置需要了解微型推进的原理，例如微生物在各种流体环境中的游动，以及制定控制推进的方法。这个项目旨在解决我们目前在如何实现单个平面机器人微泳者和这类游泳者群体在具有生物医学意义的真实液体中的受控推进方面的知识空白，包括生理盐水、甲基纤维素和合成粘液。该项目的理论和实验工作将流体力学、小规模制造和控制理论结合在一起。该项目将受益于美国和以色列研究人员之间独特的国际合作。以微泳者及其推进和控制为中心的教育活动将被整合到教学和推广中，帮助扩大目前代表不足的群体对STEM的参与。本研究旨在为在牛顿和非牛顿流体环境中用于低雷诺数推进的机器人微泳者的优化设计和控制做出基础性贡献，包括仿生组织状材料。它通过研究可以使用标准光刻批量制造的平面微结构，以及探索通过改变几何形状、表面功能化和使用激光激发、化学催化、温度梯度和磁场的外部驱动来实现不同的步态，从而实现了这一结果。这项研究将导致建立一个基于随机微分方程的平面螺旋桨对环境扰动的行为模型，并设计一种反馈控制算法，在跟踪随机运动目标或在存在随机漂移的情况下实现最优路径规划和导航时预测不确定性。这项工作将有助于实际了解微泳者在复杂的流体环境中的机动性和路径规划，无论是单独的还是成群结队的。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This grant will fund research that enables innovative uses of microrobotic devices in a variety of healthcare applications, including non-invasive surgery, drug delivery, and treatment of infection and infertility, thereby promoting the progress of science and advancing the national prosperity and health. Deployment of such microrobotic devices requires an understanding of principles of microscale propulsion, for example swimming of microorganisms in various fluidic environments, and the development of methodologies to control propulsion. This project aims to address a current gap in our knowledge of how to achieve controlled propulsion of single planar robotic microswimmers and groups of such swimmers in real fluids of biomedical relevance, including saline, methylcellulose, and synthetic mucus. The theoretical and experimental work conducted in this project brings together fluid mechanics, small-scale fabrication, and control theory. The project will benefit from a unique international collaboration between researchers in the US and Israel. Educational activities centered on microswimmers, as well as their propulsion and control, will be integrated in instruction and outreach, helping to broaden participation in STEM from currently underrepresented groups.This research aims to make fundamental contributions to the optimal design and control of robotic microswimmers for low-Reynolds-number propulsion in both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluidic environments, including biomimetic tissue-like materials. It achieves this outcome by investigating planar microstructures that can be fabricated in bulk using standard photolithography, and exploring different gaits realized through variations in geometry, surface functionalization, and external actuation using laser excitation, chemical catalysis, thermal gradients, and magnetic fields. The research will result in the development of a stochastic differential-equation-based model of planar propeller behavior in response to environmental disturbances, as well as the design of a feedback control algorithm that anticipates uncertainty while tracking stochastic moving targets or realizing optimal path-planning and navigation in the presence of stochastic drifts. The work will contribute to a practical understanding of maneuverability and path planning of microswimmers in complex fluidic environments, both individually and in swarms.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.