Device and programming abstractions for spatiotemporal control of active micro-particle swarms

We present a hardware setup and a set of executable commands for spatiotemporal programming and interactive control of a swarm of self-propelled microscopic agents inside a microfluidic chip. In particular, local and global spatiotemporal light stimuli are used to direct the motion of ensembles of E...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Lab on a chip 2017-04, Vol.17 (8), p.1442-1451
Main Authors: Lam, Amy T, Samuel-Gama, Karina G, Griffin, Jonathan, Loeun, Matthew, Gerber, Lukas C, Hossain, Zahid, Cira, Nate J, Lee, Seung Ah, Riedel-Kruse, Ingmar H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chips
Commands
Devices
Games
Hardware
Programming
Stimuli
Utilities
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We present a hardware setup and a set of executable commands for spatiotemporal programming and interactive control of a swarm of self-propelled microscopic agents inside a microfluidic chip. In particular, local and global spatiotemporal light stimuli are used to direct the motion of ensembles of Euglena gracilis, a unicellular phototactic organism. We develop three levels of programming abstractions (stimulus space, swarm space, and system space) to create a scripting language for directing swarms. We then implement a multi-level proof-of-concept biotic game using these commands to demonstrate their utility. These device and programming concepts will enhance our capabilities for manipulating natural and synthetic swarms, with future applications for on-chip processing, diagnostics, education, and research on collective behaviors.
ISSN:1473-0197
1473-0189
DOI:10.1039/c7lc00131b