Cooperative Active Colloidal Microrobots

Project ID: 2228cd1370 (You will need this ID for your application)

UCL Lead department: Chemistry

Project Summary:

The project. This project aims at developing microscopic colloidal robots that, as social insects do (e.g., ants), can communicate with each other via the environment to coordinate the emergence of collective behaviours and decision making. This system will constitute the first example of a microscopic decentralized artificial intelligence architecture, where “intelligent” behaviours can emerge, unknown to the individuals, thus making the system robust and resilient to unit failure. Importance. This project’s outcomes will generate novel insight on our fundamental understanding and control over self-organization in living systems with the potential to advance technologies in a wide range of fields, such as healthcare, materials self-assembly, swarm intelligence and robotics, artificial intelligence algorithms, and crowd management tools. Team. The work will develop under the direct supervision of Prof. Volpe’s in the UCL Department of Chemistry and in collaboration with one of his postdoctoral researchers. Activities. We will fabricate microscopic colloidal robots that can self-propel when illuminated with laser light. We will endow them with the capability to leave transient trails on substrates functionalized with thermoresponsive polymers. As in social insects, these pheromone-like trails will mediate the indirect communication among individuals via their environment to coordinate collective decision making. As proof-of-concept decision making, we will study the ability of these colloidal robots to learn how to collectively solve a maze. The successful candidate will therefore learn skills in soft matter, surface chemistry, photonics, and artificial intelligence. Ideal Candidate. The successful applicant should have or expect to achieve a Masters-level degree (1st or 2:1) in a relevant subject, e.g., Chemistry, Physics, Natural Sciences, and an interest in working at the interface between different disciplines of physical chemistry, including soft matter and self-assembly.