Flagellated microorganisms can swim at low Reynolds numbers and adapt to changes in their environment. Specifically, the flagella can switch their shapes or modes through gene expression. In the past decade, efforts have been made to fabricate and investigate rigid types of microrobots without any adaptation to the environments. More recently, obtaining adaptive microrobots mimicking real microorganisms is getting more attention. However, even though some adaptive microrobots achieved by hydrogels have emerged, the swimming behaviors of the microrobots before and after the environment-induced deformations are not predicted in a systematic standardized way. In this work, experiments, finite element analysis, and dynamic modeling are presented together to realize a complete understanding of these adaptive microrobots. The above three parts are cross-verified proving the success of using such methods, facilitating the bio-applications with shape-programmable and even swimming performance-programmable microrobots. Moreover, an application of targeted object delivery using the proposed microrobot has been successfully demonstrated. Finally, cytotoxicity tests are performed to prove the potential for using the proposed microrobot for biomedical applications.

翻译：带鞭毛的微生物能够在低雷诺数环境下游泳，并适应环境变化。具体而言，鞭毛可通过基因表达切换其形态或运动模式。过去十年间，研究者致力于制备和研究无法适应环境的刚性微机器人。而近年来，模拟真实微生物的自适应微机器人日益受到关注。然而，尽管已出现基于水凝胶制备的自适应微机器人，但环境诱导形变前后微机器人的游动行为尚未得到系统标准化的预测。本研究通过结合实验、有限元分析与动力学建模，实现了对此类自适应微机器人的全面理解。上述三部分互相验证，证实了该方法的有效性，从而推动了形状可编程乃至游动性能可编程微机器人在生物应用中的发展。此外，成功展示了所提出微机器人在靶向物体递送中的应用。最后，通过细胞毒性实验验证了该微机器人在生物医学领域的应用潜力。