Robotic swarms as a model for dense active matter
Can we use robots to study biological materials like tissues?
We think we can! We are developing experimental and computational platforms to study the dense population of moving cells using robots. To this end, we program the robots about the size of a 2-Euro coin to move like cells. We then explore how robots move when they are densely packed. Analysing the trajectory data, from these experiments, we then make computational models to explore different conditions/parameters, which are hard to explore experimentally.
Your Research
Combo of Experiments and Theory
You will work in a team to develop the experimental platform in which robots’ motion is explored via machine vision. You will be responsible for the code development of the platform and the data analysis.
Meanwhile, you will develop the computational platform in which different dense population of robots will be studied. Model Development will be based on the recently developed code in our group (in Python).
Methods involved
Experiments: Image processing, robotics
Theory: Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Supervisors: Mazi Jalaal (m.jalaal@uva.nl) / Jared Popowski (j.s.popowski@uva.nl)