Swarm robotics

Swarm robotics is a new discipline inspired by living organisms' cooperative behavior. It entails creating robots and getting them to work together to complete complex tasks. Macro-scale swarm robots have been developed and used for a variety of applications, including cargo transport and accumulation, shape formation, and complex structure construction.

Researchers led by Akira Kakugo, a physical chemist at Hokkaido University, have developed tiny micro-sized machines that take advantage of swarming behavior. Their research has been published in the journal Science Robotics.

A swarm of cooperating robots gains abilities that individual robots do not have. They can divide a workload, respond to risks, and even build complex structures in response to environmental changes. Because of their incredibly small size, single micro and nano-scale robots and machines have very few practical applications. However, if they could work together in swarms, their potential applications would skyrocket.

The researchers built approximately five million single molecular machines out of two biological components: microtubules linked to DNA, allowing them to swarm, and kinesin, a motor protein capable of transporting the microtubules.

The DNA was combined with azobenzene, a light-sensitive compound. Changes in the structure of azobenzene caused the DNA to form double strands, connecting the microtubules in a swarm. UV light exposure reversed this process.

The researchers investigated the transport of tiny polystyrene beads treated with azobenzene-linked DNA. When exposed to visible light, they loaded onto the microtubules and unloaded when exposed to UV light. The cargo's DNA and azobenzene were distinct from those used on the robots, allowing swarming to be controlled independently of cargo loading.

A single machine can load and transport polystyrene beads up to three micrometres in diameter, but swarms of machines can transport cargo up to 30 micrometres in diameter. In terms of transportation distance and volume, the swarms were up to five times more efficient.

The study lays the groundwork for the application of microrobots to various fields by demonstrating that molecular machines can be designed to swarm and cooperate to transport cargo with high efficiency.

Swarm robotics - Science at Virtual Solutions (virtualsolv.com)