Finding Chemo: Robot Modeling of Chemotaxis

All living things need to obtain materials in order to stay alive. Chemotaxis is the directed movement towards or away from a chemical stimulus. In many cases, chemotaxis is a matter of life or death, so sensing and acting on feedback from the environment is a crucial life function. Students will use a robot as a model of an organism in search of a resource. Students will participate in a design challenge, and program the robot to take samples (in this case color density will simulate chemical concentration) from the environment which will direct its movement towards a stimulus.