Bacterial flagella-based propulsion and on/off motion control of microscale objects

Abstract

Miniaturization of the power source and on-board actuation is the main bottleneck for the development of microscale mobile robots. As a possible solution, this letter proposes the use of flagellar motors inside the intact cell of Serratia marcescens bacteria for controlled propulsion of swimming robotic bodies. The feasibility of the proposed idea is demonstrated by propelling $10\mu \mathrm{m}$ polystyrene beads at an average speed of $15\pm 6\mu \mathrm{m}∕\mathrm{s}$ by several bacteria randomly attached on their surface. On/off motion control of the bead is achieved by introducing copper ions to stop the bacteria flagellar motors and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid to resume their motion.