NSF-BSF: Modeling and Control of Collective Dynamics for Externally Driven Planar Microswimmers

NSF-BSF：外部驱动平面微型游泳器集体动力学的建模和控制

• 批准号: 2123824
• 负责人: MinJun Kim
• 金额: $ 29.79万
• 依托单位: Southern Methodist University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2123824&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; BSF; Modeling; Control; Collective

This grant will fund research that enables innovative uses of microrobotic devices in a variety of healthcare applications, including non-invasive surgery, drug delivery, and treatment of infection and infertility, thereby promoting the progress of science and advancing the national prosperity and health. Deployment of such microrobotic devices requires an understanding of principles of microscale propulsion, for example swimming of microorganisms in various fluidic environments, and the development of methodologies to control propulsion. This project aims to address a current gap in our knowledge of how to achieve controlled propulsion of single planar robotic microswimmers and groups of such swimmers in real fluids of biomedical relevance, including saline, methylcellulose, and synthetic mucus. The theoretical and experimental work conducted in this project brings together fluid mechanics, small-scale fabrication, and control theory. The project will benefit from a unique international collaboration between researchers in the US and Israel. Educational activities centered on microswimmers, as well as their propulsion and control, will be integrated in instruction and outreach, helping to broaden participation in STEM from currently underrepresented groups.This research aims to make fundamental contributions to the optimal design and control of robotic microswimmers for low-Reynolds-number propulsion in both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluidic environments, including biomimetic tissue-like materials. It achieves this outcome by investigating planar microstructures that can be fabricated in bulk using standard photolithography, and exploring different gaits realized through variations in geometry, surface functionalization, and external actuation using laser excitation, chemical catalysis, thermal gradients, and magnetic fields. The research will result in the development of a stochastic differential-equation-based model of planar propeller behavior in response to environmental disturbances, as well as the design of a feedback control algorithm that anticipates uncertainty while tracking stochastic moving targets or realizing optimal path-planning and navigation in the presence of stochastic drifts. The work will contribute to a practical understanding of maneuverability and path planning of microswimmers in complex fluidic environments, both individually and in swarms.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这笔赠款将资助在各种医疗保健应用中创新使用微型机器人设备的研究，包括非侵入性手术、药物输送以及感染和不孕不育的治疗，从而促进科学进步，促进国家繁荣和健康。部署此类微型机器人设备需要了解微型推进原理，例如微生物在各种流体环境中的游泳，以及控制推进的方法的开发。该项目旨在解决目前我们在如何在生物医学相关的真实流体（包括盐水、甲基纤维素和合成粘液）中实现单平面机器人微型游泳器和此类游泳器组的受控推进的知识差距。该项目进行的理论和实验工作汇集了流体力学、小规模制造和控制理论。该项目将受益于美国和以色列研究人员之间独特的国际合作。以微型游泳器及其推进和控制为中心的教育活动将纳入教学和推广，有助于扩大目前代表性不足的群体对 STEM 的参与。这项研究旨在为机器人微型游泳器的优化设计和控制做出根本性贡献牛顿和非牛顿流体环境中的低雷诺数推进，包括仿生组织类材料。它通过研究可以使用标准光刻法批量制造的平面微结构，并探索通过几何变化、表面功能化和使用激光激发、化学催化、热梯度和磁场的外部驱动实现的不同步态，从而实现这一结果。该研究将开发基于随机微分方程的平面螺旋桨响应环境扰动行为模型，以及设计反馈控制算法，在跟踪随机移动目标或实现最佳路径规划时预测不确定性以及存在随机漂移的情况下的导航。这项工作将有助于对微型游泳器在复杂流体环境中的机动性和路径规划的实际理解，无论是单独的还是群体的。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估，被认为值得支持标准。