Traditional robots rely on computing to coordinate sensing and actuating components and to store internal representations of their goals and environment. Any implementation of single-molecule based robotics must overcome the limited ability of individual molecules to store complex programs and, for example, use architectures that obtain complex behaviors from the interaction of simple robots with their environment-. Previous research in DNA walkers focused on transitioning from non-autonomous systems, to directed but brief motion on one-dimensional tracks-. Herein, we obtain elementary robotic behaviors from the interaction between a random walker incorporating deoxyribozymes and a precisely defined environment. Using single-molecule microscopies we demonstrate that such walkers achieve directionality by sensing and modifying their environment, following trails of recognition elements (“bread crumbs”) laid out on a two-dimensional DNA origami landscape. These molecular robots autonomously carry out sequences of actions such as “start”, “follow”, “turn”, and “stop”, thus laying the foundation for the synthesis of more complex robotic behaviors at the molecular level by incorporating additional layers of control mechanisms. For example, interactions between multiple molecular robots could lead to collective behavior,, while the ability to read and transform secondary cues on the landscape could provide a mechanism for Turing-universal algorithmic behavior,,.
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