Collaborative Research: Chemotaxis-Driven Neuromorphic Amoeboid Hydrogel Microrobot (GEL-Bot)

This project will develop a sub-millimeter scale robot with sensing and movement capabilities inspired by the amoeba. Like the amoeba, this robot will be able to follow biological and chemical traces in the surrounding environment by extending and contracting its body. The robot will be distinguished by its construction from uniformly soft composite materials, and by a seamlessly integrated information-processing system for converting sensed chemical signals into motion commands. The developed robot will have applications for minimally invasive medical diagnostics as well as structural inspection in confined spaces. This project will develop a micro hydrogel crawling robot with novel capabilities in selective electrochemical sensing, neuromorphic control, and thermal actuation, specifically enabled by (1) a hydrogel-MXene skin capable of detecting electrochemical changes in its surroundings; (2) 3D micro thermally activated hydrogel-nitinol actuators to power swimming and crawling gaits; (3) a functional hydrogel skin to facilitate thermal transport and interfacial friction reduction; and (4) neuromorphic circuitry incorporating MXene-hydrogel memristor elements to learn, compute, and control the sensorimotor connection. The design approach is inspired by the amoeba, whose behavior is governed by biochemical pathways linking chemical sensing and actuation mechanisms. Like the amoeba, the robot developed under this project will be capable of multimodal sensing and feedback-controlled motion in complex environments with unstructured sensing signals. The performance of the robot will be demonstrated for minimally invasive biomedical diagnostics and confined-space inspection applications. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.