Autonomous life-like behavior emerging in active and flexible microstructures

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Wei, Mengshi, Kraft, Daniela J.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Wei, Mengshi
Kraft, Daniela J.
author_facet Wei, Mengshi
Kraft, Daniela J.
contents Many organisms leverage an interplay between shape and activity to generate motion and adapt to their environment. Embedding such feedback into synthetic microrobots could eliminate the need for sensors, software, and actuators, yet current realizations are either active but rigid, or flexible but passive. Here, we introduce micrometer-scale structures that integrate both activity and flexibility by 3D microprinting concatenated units and actuating them with an AC electric field. This minimal yet versatile design gives rise to a rich array of life-like modes of motion - including railway and undulatory locomotion, rotation, and beating - as well as emergent sense-response abilities, which enable autonomous reorientation, navigation, and collision avoidance. Our approach offers a versatile platform for designing biomimetic model systems and autonomously operating microrobots with embodied intelligence.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_15198
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Autonomous life-like behavior emerging in active and flexible microstructures
Wei, Mengshi
Kraft, Daniela J.
Soft Condensed Matter
Many organisms leverage an interplay between shape and activity to generate motion and adapt to their environment. Embedding such feedback into synthetic microrobots could eliminate the need for sensors, software, and actuators, yet current realizations are either active but rigid, or flexible but passive. Here, we introduce micrometer-scale structures that integrate both activity and flexibility by 3D microprinting concatenated units and actuating them with an AC electric field. This minimal yet versatile design gives rise to a rich array of life-like modes of motion - including railway and undulatory locomotion, rotation, and beating - as well as emergent sense-response abilities, which enable autonomous reorientation, navigation, and collision avoidance. Our approach offers a versatile platform for designing biomimetic model systems and autonomously operating microrobots with embodied intelligence.
title Autonomous life-like behavior emerging in active and flexible microstructures
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.15198