Moreau, C;
Ishimoto, K;
Gaffney, EA;
Walker, BJ;
(2021)
Control and controllability of microswimmers by a shearing flow.
Royal Society Open Science
, 8
, Article 211141. 10.1098/rsos.211141.
Preview |
Text
Walker_rsos.211141.pdf - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
With the continuing rapid development of artificial microrobots and active particles, questions of microswimmer guidance and control are becoming ever more relevant and prevalent. In both the applications and theoretical study of such microscale swimmers, control is often mediated by an engineered property of the swimmer, such as in the case of magnetically propelled microrobots. In this work, we will consider a modality of control that is applicable in more generality, effecting guidance via modulation of a background fluid flow. Here, considering a model swimmer in a commonplace flow and simple geometry, we analyse and subsequently establish the efficacy of flow-mediated microswimmer positional control, later touching upon a question of optimal control. Moving beyond idealized notions of controllability and towards considerations of practical utility, we then evaluate the robustness of this control modality to sources of variation that may be present in applications, examining in particular the effects of measurement inaccuracy and rotational noise. This exploration gives rise to a number of cautionary observations, which, overall, demonstrate the need for the careful assessment of both policy and behavioural robustness when designing control schemes for use in practice.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Control and controllability of microswimmers by a shearing flow |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1098/rsos.211141 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211141 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Controllability, flow control, microswimmer control, robustness |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Mathematics |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10141568 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
