Related papers: Towards Physarum Engines
Natural systems integrate the work of many sub-units (cells) toward a large-scale unified goal (morphological and behavioral), which can counteract the effects of unexpected experiences, damage, or simply changes in tasks demands. In this…
A novel mechanism for the transport of microscale particles in viscous fluids is demonstrated. The mechanism exploits the trapping of such particles by rotational streaming cells established in the vicinity of an oscillating cylinder,…
Motor proteins drive persistent motion and self-organisation of cytoskeletal filaments. However, state-of-the-art microscopy techniques and continuum modelling approaches focus on large length and time scales. Here, we perform…
Active colloids and externally actuated semi-flexible filaments provide basic building blocks for designing autonomously motile micro-machines. Here, we show that a passive semi-flexible filament can be actuated and transported by attaching…
Transport phenomena in complex and dynamic microscopic environments are fundamentally shaped by hydrodynamic interactions. In particular, microparticle transport in porous media is governed by the delicate interplay between…
Dusty plasma medium turns out to be an ideal system for studying the strongly coupled behavior of matter. The large size and slow response make their dynamics suitable to be captured through simple diagnostic tools. Furthermore, as the…
We propose a dynamical mechanism leading to the fluidization of soft-glassy amorphous mate-rial driven below the yield-stress by external mechanical fluctuations. The model is based on the combination of memory effect and non-linearity,…
Building mathematical models of brains is difficult because of the sheer complexity of the problem. One potential starting point is through basal cognition, which gives abstract representation of a range of organisms without central nervous…
Light-matter interactions generally involve momentum exchange between incident photons and the target object giving rise to optical forces and torques. While typically weak, they become significant at the nanoscale, driving intense research…
Stimuli-responsive lyogels are considered to be smart materials due to their capability of undergoing significant macroscopic changes in response to external triggers. Due to their versatile and unique properties, smart lyogels exhibit…
The Physarum solver is an intuitive mechanism for solving optimisation problems based on the idea of an electrical network, whereby the conductivity is reinforced by the current. We show that the Physarum solver obtains the solution to the…
Using a particle model of slime mould we demonstrate scoping experiments which explore how path planning may be performed by morphological adaptation. We initially demonstrate simple path planning by a shrinking blob of virtual plasmodium…
Oscillations of flagella and cilia play an important role in biology, which motivates the idea of functional mimicry as part of bio-inspired applications. Nevertheless, it still remains challenging to drive their artificial counterparts to…
One of the major challenges in modern robotics is controlling micromanipulation by active and adaptive materials. In the respiratory system, such actuation enables pathogen clearance by means of motile cilia. While various types of…
Fluid-resistance limited transport of vesicles through narrow constrictions is a recurring theme in many biological and engineering applications. Inspired by the motor-driven movement of soft membrane-bound vesicles into closed neuronal…
A modular, maintainable and extensible particle beam simulation architecture is presented. Design considerations for single particle, multi particle, and rms envelope simulations (in two and three dimensions) are outlined. Envelope…
We study transport in synthetic, bi-disperse porous structures, with arrays of microchannels interconnected by a nanoporous layer. These structures are inspired by the xylem tissue in vascular plants, in which sap water travels from the…
Rigid-bodied robots often lack compliance needed to adapt to unstructured environments, while fully soft robots, though highly adaptable, struggle with scalability and load capacity. In nature, musculoskeletal systems balance strength and…
In recent years the functionality of synthetic active microparticles has edged even closer to that of their biological counterparts. However, we still lack the understanding needed to recreate at the microscale key features of autonomous…
Soft actuators offer a safe, adaptable approach to tasks like gentle grasping and dexterous manipulation. Creating accurate models to control such systems however is challenging due to the complex physics of deformable materials. Accurate…