Smart microrobots learn how to swim and navigate with artificial intelligence

Researchers from Santa Clara University, New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Hong Kong have been able to successfully teach microrobots how to swim via deep reinforcement learning, marking a substantial leap in the progression of microswimming capability. There has been tremendous interest in developing artificial microswimmers that can navigate the world similarly to naturally-occurring swimming microorganisms, like bacteria. Such microswimmers provide promise for a vast array of future biomedical applications, such as targeted drug delivery and microsurgery. Yet, most artificial microswimmers to date can only perform relatively simple maneuvers with fixed locomotory gaits. In the researchers' study published in Communications Physics, they reasoned microswimmers could learn--and adapt to changing conditions--through AI.