Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36229440›Full record

ArticleNature communications2022

Emergent microrobotic oscillators via asymmetry-induced order.

Jing Fan Yang, Thomas A Berrueta, Ada M Brooks, Albert Tianxiang Liu, Ge Zhang, David Gonzalez-Medrano, Sungyun Yang, Volodymyr B Koman, Pavel Chvykov, Lexy N LeMar and 3 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. A local-global principle for nonequilibrium steady states.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
  8. Review
  9. Programmable self-organization of heterogeneous microrobot collectives.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Jing Fan Yang *Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8180-7452
Thomas A Berrueta *Center for Robotics and Biosystems, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3781-0934
Ada M BrooksDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Albert Tianxiang LiuDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8854-5854
Ge ZhangDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
David Gonzalez-MedranoDepartment of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Sungyun YangDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3728-9544
Volodymyr B KomanDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8480-4003
Pavel ChvykovPhysics of Living Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6850-5994
Lexy N LeMarDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Marc Z MiskinDepartment of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0905-8706
Todd D MurpheyCenter for Robotics and Biosystems, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2262-8176
Michael S StranoDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. strano@mit.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2944-808X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Spontaneous oscillations on the order of several hertz are the drivers of many crucial processes in nature. From bacterial swimming to mammal gaits, converting static energy inputs into slowly oscillating power is key to the autonomy of organisms across scales. However, the fabrication of slow micrometre-scale oscillators remains a major roadblock towards fully-autonomous microrobots. Here, we study a low-frequency oscillator that emerges from a collective of active microparticles at the air-liquid interface of a hydrogen peroxide drop. Their interactions transduce ambient chemical energy into periodic mechanical motion and on-board electrical currents. Surprisingly, these oscillations persist at larger ensemble sizes only when a particle with modified reactivity is added to intentionally break permutation symmetry. We explain such emergent order through the discovery of a thermodynamic mechanism for asymmetry-induced order. The on-board power harvested from the stabilised oscillations enables the use of electronic components, which we demonstrate by cyclically and synchronously driving a microrobotic arm. This work highlights a new strategy for achieving low-frequency oscillations at the microscale, paving the way for future microrobotic autonomy.

Indexed as

Hydrogen PeroxideSwimmingAnimalsMammalsMotionHydrogen Peroxide

Identifiers

PMID36229440
PMCPMC9561614

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.