Swimming and crawling motility at microscopic scales: from biological templates to bio-inspired devices

摘要

We discuss the mechanical bases of cellular motility by swimming and crawling. Special emphasis is placed on the connections between low Reynolds number swimming and Geometric Control Theory, and on the geometric structure of the underlying equations of motion. We examine some concrete examples, taken from the case studies that have been recently considered by our group. These include reverse engineering of the euglenoid movement, self-propelled droplets of active fluids, and one-dimensional models of slender crawlers.