Related papers: Controlled fluid transport by the collective motio…
The manipulation of a collection of fluid particles in a low Reynolds number environment has several important applications. As we demonstrate in this paper, this manipulation problem is related to the scientific question of how fluid flow…
Understanding the complex patterns in space-time exhibited by active systems has been the subject of much interest in recent times. Complementing this forward problem is the inverse problem of controlling active matter. Here we use optimal…
Optimizing the energy efficiency of driving processes provides valuable insights into the underlying physics and is of crucial importance for numerous applications, from biological processes to the design of machines and robots. Knowledge…
Handling loosely placed objects with robotic manipulators is a difficult task from the point of view of trajectory planning and control. This becomes even more challenging when the object to be handled is a container filled with liquid.…
The navigation of micro-robots in complex flow environments is controlled by rheotaxis, the reorientation with respect to flow gradients. Here we demonstrate how payloads can be exploited to enhance the motion against flows. Using fully…
We study an optimal boundary control problem for the two-dimensional stationary micropolar fluids system with variable density. We control the system by considering boundary controls, for the velocity vector and angular velocity of rotation…
The collective motion of microorganisms and microrobots can be used for particle delivery, especially when guided by external magnetic fields, phototaxis, or chemotaxis. This cargo transport is enhanced significantly by hydrodynamic…
Magnetically driven artificial microswimmers have the potential to revolutionize many biomedical technologies, such as minimally-invasive microsurgery, micro-particle manipulation, and localized drug delivery. However, many of these…
Cells control fluid flows with a spatial and temporal precision that far exceeds the capabilities of current microfluidic technologies. Cells achieve this superior spatio-temporal control by harnessing dynamic networks of cytoskeleton and…
This paper presents an approach to externally influencing a team of robots by means of time-varying density functions. These density functions represent rough references for where the robots should be located. To this end, a continuous-time…
Many living and physical systems such as cell aggregates, tissues or bacterial colonies behave as unconventional systems of particles that are strongly constrained by volume exclusion and shape interactions. Understanding how these…
Controlling large populations of thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs), such as water heaters, poses significant challenges due to the need to balance global constraints (e.g., grid stability) with individual requirements (e.g., physical…
This article concerns the problem of computing solutions to state-constrained optimal control problems whose trajectory is affected by a flow field. This general mathematical framework is particularly pertinent to the requirements…
With the rapid development of robot swarm technology and its diverse applications, navigating robot swarms through complex environments has emerged as a critical research direction. To ensure safe navigation and avoid potential collisions…
Zermelo's navigation problem seeks the trajectory of minimal travel time between two points in a fluid flow. We address this problem for an agent -- such as a micro-robot or active particle -- that is advected by a two-dimensional flow,…
Current developments in molecular electronics, motors and chemical sensors could enable constructing large numbers of devices able to sense, compute and act in micron-scale environments. Such microscopic machines, of sizes comparable to…
We present an optimization-based motion planning algorithm to compute a smooth, collision-free trajectory for a manipulator used to transfer a liquid from a source to a target container. We take into account fluid dynamics constraints as…
We present a planning and control approach for collaborative transportation of objects in space by a team of robots. Object and robots in microgravity environments are not subject to friction but are instead free floating. This property is…
This article introduces a representation of dynamic meshes, adapted to some numerical simulations that require controlling the volume of objects with free boundaries, such as incompressible fluid simulation, some astrophysical simulations…
Reactive transport in permeable porous media is relevant for a variety of applications, but poses a significant challenge due to the range of length and time scales. Multiscale methods that aim to link microstructure with the macroscopic…