Cooperative cargo transportation by a swarm of molecular machines

by Daniel Carrillo-Zapata

23 July 2022

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Dr. Akira Kakugo and his team from Hokkaido University in Japan sent us a video presentation of his recent paper ‘Cooperative cargo transportation by a swarm of molecular machines’, published in Science Robotics.

‘Despite the advancements in macro-scale robots, the development of a large number of small-size robots is still challenging, which is crucial to enhance the scalability of swarm robots,’ says Dr. Kakugo. In the paper, researchers showed it is possible to collectively transport molecular cargo by a swarm of artificial molecular robots (engineered systems with biological/molecular sensors, processors and actuators) responding to light.

PAPER – Cooperative cargo transportation by a swarm of molecular machines. M. Akter, J. J. Keya, K. Kayano, A. M. R. Kabir, D. Inoue, H. Hess, K. Sada, A. Kuzuya, H. Asanuma, and A. Kakugo. Science Robotics, 7(65), p.eabm0677.

tags: Nano, Swarming

Daniel Carrillo-Zapata was awared his PhD in swarm robotics at the Bristol Robotics Lab in 2020. He now fosters the culture of "scientific agitation" to engage in two-way conversations between researchers and society.

Cooperative cargo transportation by a swarm of molecular machines

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