Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: , a classic model system in biology and a species adept at microscale interaction, as a biological platform for microrobotics. Initially, we focus on remotely directing the walking paths of fruit flies in an experimental arena. We accomplish this through two distinct approaches: harnessing the fruit flies' optomotor response and optogenetic modulation of its olfactory system. These techniques facilitate reliable and repeated guidance of flies between arbitrary spatial locations. We guide flies along predetermined trajectories, enabling them to scribe patterns resembling textual characters through their locomotion. We enhance olfactory-guided navigation through additional optogenetic activation of attraction-inducing mushroom body output neurons. We extend this control to collective behaviors in shared spaces and navigation through constrained maze-like environments. We further use our guidance technique to enable flies to carry a load across designated points in space, establishing the upper bound on their weight-carrying capabilities. Additionally, we demonstrate that visual guidance can facilitate novel interactions between flies and objects, showing that flies can consistently relocate a small spherical object over significant distances. Last, we demonstrate multiagent formation control, with flies alternating between distinct spatial patterns. Beyond expanding tools available for microrobotics, these behavioral contexts can provide insights into the neurological basis of behavior in fruit flies.
Authors: Kenichi Iwasaki, Charles Neuhauser, Chris Stokes, Aleksandr Rayshubskiy
Institutions: Harvard University, Rowland Institute at Harvard
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Rowland Institute at Harvard
OpenAlex ID: W4409263724