CHOBOTIX:Chemical Processing by Swarm

Robotics

Frantisek Stepanek

Institute of Chemical Technology

Prague, Czech Republic

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- Design and synthesis of “chemical robots”- Internally structured particles- Inspired by microorganisms (but non-living)- Capable of chemically modifying their environment

- Investigation of their collective behaviour

- Applications- Controlled drug release- Intelligent cleaning

Project Aims

Classical robots are intended for:

- performing mechanical tasks

- in the macroscopic world

Their function is based on electro-mechanical principles

Motivation

How can we perform “chemical” tasks on microscopic scale?

- in nature: microorganisms

- no equivalent available

- we try to design & make one

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Scientific challenges

Proposed architecture of a chemical robot

A

C

A + B C + D DB

1

2

3

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1) semi-permeable protective outer shell

2) controlled molecular transport across shell

3) system of internal compartments/reservoirs

4) application specific reaction chemistry

5) adaptive surface properties

6) bottom-up synthesis, “power-up”, remote control

10-100 μm

• Stimuli-responsive “smart” gels

(J. Cejkova, A. Zadrazil, J. Hanus)• Structured particle synthesis

(M. Singh, J. Dohnal, P. Kovacik)• Liposome synthesis (M. Ullrich)• Computer-aided design (Z. Grof)• Reaction chemistry (V. Tokarova, O. Kaspar)

Current Work

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Application areas of chemical robots:– controlled delivery of medicines

(desired location, amount and time)– intelligent cleaning

(neutralisation of contaminants, desinfection)– harvesting of distributed / diluted resources– diagnostics / sensing– energy storage

New, exciting science!

Societal benefits