23 November 2023 Thu 4 pm

Active matter (collectives of self-propelled particles) spontaneously organizes into large-scale coherent swarms. Living organisms use communications and information processing to enhance their evolutionary competitiveness. This feature is mostly lacking in synthetic active matter, e.g., simple microrobots, while it could significantly improve their functionality and efficiency. Using a simple description of self-propelled interacting particles (so-called Vicsek model) complimented by coupling to a signaling field, we have shown that chemical communication with decision-making at individual agents' level enables a multi-scale organization. In the case of agents with long-range communications, we considered the self-organization of coupled self-propelled nonlinear oscillators emitting acoustic waves. We discovered spontaneous assembly into localized droplets and collectively propagating snake- and larvae-like solutions. These structures demonstrate collective navigation in heterogeneous environments and threat detection. Our results provide insights into the emerging functionality of synthetic non-equilibrium systems such as micro robotic swarms capable of processing information and making decisions.

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