Menu

Blog

Aug 5, 2022

Smart microrobots learn how to swim and navigate with artificial intelligence

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

Researchers from Santa Clara University, New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Hong Kong have been able to successfully teach microrobots how to swim via deep reinforcement learning, marking a substantial leap in the progression of microswimming capability.

There has been tremendous interest in developing artificial microswimmers that can navigate the world similarly to naturally-occuring swimming microorganisms, like bacteria. Such microswimmers provide promise for a vast array of future biomedical applications, such as targeted drug delivery and microsurgery. Yet, most artificial microswimmers to date can only perform relatively simple maneuvers with fixed locomotory gaits.

The artificial intelligence-powered swimmer switches between different modes of locomotory gaits (color-coded) autonomously in tracing a complex trajectory ‘SWIM’. (Image: Commun. Phys., 5,158 (2022))

Comments are closed.