Engines and electric motors have brought a great advancement in human civilization. However, for the sake of environmental protection and sustainable development there a growing demand of renewable and clean energy. To address this demand, we have been focusing on active matter derived from nature, biomolecular motors. Biomolecular motors can convert chemical energy into motion with a high efficiency (~ 80%) and specific power (20 times higher than that of conventional electric motors). We believe these advantages of biomolecular motors will help invent new technologies for sustainable development.

1) Swarming of active matter
Birds, fish, cells, and bacteria form “swarm” without necessity of a leader. Depending on their environment, they change shape and size of swarm. Swarms are capable of accomplishing tasks, which is not achievable by single individual organisms. Recently, by using a self-driven biomolecular motor, we have succeeded in reproducing swarming in laboratory condition. We also successfully controlled the movement of the swarm by applying physical stimulation (Figures 1 and 2). Studying the swarming of active matters will be beneficial for developing drones and cars that will be able to move autonomously.

2) Active molecular probe
By utilizing the characteristics of the self-driven biomolecular motors, we have developed new technology that can detect surface deformation of soft-matters, which has been challenging so far (Figure 3). Soft matter has been attracting attentions in recent years in many fields such as medicine and electronics. Our technology will provide new method for characterizing surface properties of soft matters.

3) Molecular swarm robot
We have developed molecular robots incorporating all three necessary components, sensor, actuator, processor. The developed molecular robots autonomously swarm in response to chemical (DNA information) and physical signals (light information), which will pave a way for developing smart nano-machines in future (Figure 4).

4) Artificial molecular muscle
Through fusion of a biomolecular motor synthesized by biotechnology and a DNA nanostructure (DNA origami) synthesized by DNA nanotechnology we have succeeded in developing an artificial molecular muscle. The artificial molecular muscle exhibit dynamic contraction like smooth muscle (Figure 5). This invention will serve as new type of power source for microrobots in the future.