01187nas a2200145   4500008004300000245004000043210004000083520078100123100002300904700002200927700001700949700002000966700001900986856003601005       2010                        en_Ud  00aOptimally swimming Stokesian Robots0 aOptimally swimming Stokesian Robots3 aWe study self propelled stokesian robots composed of assemblies of balls, in dimen-\\nsions 2 and 3, and prove that they are able to control their position and orientation. This is a result of controllability, and its proof relies on applying Chow\\\'s theorem in an analytic framework, similarly to what has been done in [3] for an axisymmetric system swimming along the axis of symmetry. However, we simplify drastically\\nthe analyticity result given in [3] and apply it to a situation where more complex swimmers move either in a plane or in three-dimensional space, hence experiencing also rotations. We then focus our attention on energetically optimal strokes, which we are able to compute numerically. Some examples of computed optimal strokes are discussed in detail.1 aAlouges, François1 aDeSimone, Antonio1 aHeltai, Luca1 aLefebvre, Aline1 aMerlet, Benoit  uhttp://hdl.handle.net/1963/392901131nas a2200133   4500008004300000245006500043210006400108260001300172520071100185100002300896700002200919700002000941856003600961       2008                        en_Ud  00aOptimal Strokes for Low Reynolds Number Swimmers: An Example0 aOptimal Strokes for Low Reynolds Number Swimmers An Example  bSpringer3 aSwimming, i.e., being able to advance in the absence of external forces by performing cyclic shape changes, is particularly demanding at low Reynolds numbers. This is the regime of interest for micro-organisms and micro- or nano-robots. We focus in this paper on a simple yet representative example: the three-sphere swimmer of Najafi and Golestanian (Phys. Rev. E, 69, 062901-062904, 2004). For this system, we show how to cast the problem of swimming in the language of control theory, prove global controllability (which implies that the three-sphere swimmer can indeed swim), and propose a numerical algorithm to compute optimal strokes (which turn out to be suitably defined sub-Riemannian geodesics).1 aAlouges, François1 aDeSimone, Antonio1 aLefebvre, Aline  uhttp://hdl.handle.net/1963/4006