This project investigates bacteria assisted propulsion of a hybrid (biotic/abiotic) swimming micro-robot as a novel micro-robot actuation approach. An inorganic micro-robot body is propelled by the helical flagella of microorganisms such as bacteria attached to it. Prokaryotic bacteria will propel a micro-robot body robustly and efficiently with on/off speed control. The motility power source and actuation will be harvested from the bacteria by supplying and controlling the required biochemical energy source and environmental conditions to them. The research breakthrough of this work is the coupling of the nanoscale machine already in nature (i.e., the flagella) to microscale robotic bodies. This work would advance the micro-robotics field by developing this new actuation principle and design methodology for micro-scale swimming robots. Moreover, our understanding of biotic and abiotic object interactions would be improved. Three research objectives are proposed: 1) Integration of bacteria to an inorganic micro-robot body; 2) On/off robot propulsion speed control; 3) Modeling and characterization of flagellar propulsion. Highly interdisciplinary research work in this project would be transferred to many educational activities in robotics and engineering. It would support graduate students whom would be chosen from female students and underrepresented minorities, and underrepresented minority undergraduate students would be trained.
