Regensburg 2019 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Aktualisierungen | Downloads | Hilfe

BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 6: Poster I

BP 6.5: Poster

Montag, 1. April 2019, 17:30–19:30, Poster B2

Feedback Control of Active Microswimmers to Imitate Phototaxis — •Alexander Fischer and Frank Cichos — Universität Leipzig

Collective motion created by the interaction of autonomous individuals plays a major role in flocks of birds, bacterial growth or the motion of robotic swarms. Sensing and reacting to signals is a fundamental issue of life. Microswimmers, which are artificial objects that mimic the active motion of biological systems, do not have such sensing and response features built in yet, but may gain them through an external control of their propulsion. Here we explore an information exchange between artificial microswimmers by computer-controlled feedback processes. We have created a setup where multiple active microswimmers can react to their position in space or their distance to other microswimmers. Our system consists of autonomous agents performing directed motion in a plane and their orientation is subject to noise. The speed of the agent slows down in those regions where it measures a higher concentration of messengers. Thus, the probability of presence of the agent is higher in regions with higher concentration. According to Volpe et al. [1], a change between segregation and aggregation of the agents in the high messenger concentration regions can be achieved by introducing a delayed response to the messenger concentration.

[1] M. Mijalkov, A. McDaniel, J. Wehr, G. Volpe, Phys. Rev. X 6, 011008 (2016)