https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-024-00430-x
Regular Article - Flowing Matter
Programming tunable active dynamics in a self-propelled robot
1
Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, 400076, Mumbai, India
2
The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, CIT Campus, Taramani, 600113, Chennai, India
3
Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex, Anushakti Nagar, 400094, Mumbai, India
4
School of Physical Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, 175001, Mandi, India
Received:
16
February
2024
Accepted:
28
April
2024
Published online:
23
May
2024
We present a scheme for producing tunable active dynamics in a self-propelled robotic device. The robot moves using the differential drive mechanism where two wheels can vary their instantaneous velocities independently. These velocities are calculated by equating robot’s equations of motion in two dimensions with well-established active particle models and encoded into the robot’s microcontroller. We demonstrate that the robot can depict active Brownian, run and tumble, and Brownian dynamics with a wide range of parameters. The resulting motion analyzed using particle tracking shows excellent agreement with the theoretically predicted trajectories. Later, we show that its motion can be switched between different dynamics using light intensity as an external parameter. Intriguingly, we demonstrate that the robot can efficiently navigate through many obstacles by performing stochastic reorientations driven by the gradient in light intensity towards a desired location, namely the target. This work opens an avenue for designing tunable active systems with the potential of revealing the physics of active matter and its application for bio- and nature-inspired robotics.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-024-00430-x.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
