Interactive Optical Robots for Biophysics – OptoBots

The Optobots Projects aims to develop a novel family of microrobots capable of moving in a liquid medium to perform tasks in interaction with biological samples in a Petri dish. These optobots, with dimensions around 10 micrometers, are actuated by the principle of optical tweezers, through the control of the focal position of an external laser beam. A high-frequency event-based vision tracking system allows the interaction forces to be inferred with piconewton resolution over nanonewton range. The speed of actuation and sensor feedback allows the implementation of interactive robotic controls in force and position and advanced user interfaces with haptic interfaces. The project has the ambition to promote these microrobots as novel tools in biophysics applications, to conduct in-vitro experiments on living samples. The consortium includes ISIR, for developments in microrobotics, Institut Pasteur for cell biophysics and Femto-ST for optics and microfabrication.