(383h) A Programmable Microrobotic Design for the Spontaneous Tracing of Isochemical Contours in the Environment

Microrobotic platforms hold significant potential to disrupt a variety of fields, from medicine to remote sensing. However, given their small volume, the scaling of energy and computation requires deliberate algorithmic design for such systems to achieve desired collective functions. In this work, we computationally simulate minimally simplistic robotic entities based on readily available components, connected using facile fabrication approaches. We show that the combination of simple, unidirectional steering connected to a single environmental (chemical) sensor along with constant propulsion is all that is needed for the emergence of a microrobotic swarm with a higher order ability to trace the contours orthogonal to arbitrary chemical gradients. We further show that pairs of robots that emit chemical signals move in coupled linear or epicyclic trajectories. Progress toward an experimental implementation of this microrobotic design will be presented.