Development of swimming micro-robots
autonomously powered by synthetic flagella and cilia
Brandeis MRSEC (DMR-0820492) and National Research Foundation of Korea (2012-0001255)
Stephen DeCamp, Timothy Sanchez, Zvonimir Dogic, Seth Fraden, and Dongshin Kim
Synthetic cilia composed of microtubule bundles
Conceptual diagram of micro-robots propelled by
synthetic cilia and flagella
The goal of this project is to build swimming micro-robots composed of a microrobot body and synthetic filamentous bundles powered by molecular motors that
exhibit periodic beating patterns similar to those of biological cilia. We are exploring
methods to attach the synthetic cilia to a micron sized robot body which will behave
as a molecular swimmer that mimics the behavior of biological spermatozoa. An
autonomously powered micro-robot with tunable and controllable beating patterns
would provide an ideal system to deliver a therapeutic drug to a cancerous tissue.