Artificial flagellates: Analysis of advancing motions of biflagellate micro-objects

Abstract

This paper describes an analysis of advancing motions of micro-objects with two flagella separated from a unicellular alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We harnessed their flagella as actuators of the micro-objects. The isolated flagella can be attached to microbeads and propel them. We found that the biflagellate beads tend to advance, while the uniflagellate microbeads only rotate. Our model for the motion of the biflagellate beads led to conditions for generating an advancing motion. This approach is important since it provides general guidelines for designing micro-objects driven by flagellalike actuators.