Applying Escherichia coli Chemotaxis to Robots
Title: Applying Escherichia coli Chemotaxis to Robots
Student: Timothy Davison
Advisors: Dr. Kevin Nickels and Dr. Hoa Nguyen
Abstract: Robots with chemotactic behavior can respond to a chemical stimulus in the way that E. coli moves toward attractants (nutrients) and away from repellents (such as bleach). Chemotaxis allows the robot to find a chemical plume and navigate towards the source. In this work, we develop an algorithm that demonstrates the plume gradient-climbing behavior of chemotaxis to allow a small tabletop robot to seek high chemical concentrations.