Fig. 3: Randomization of nanobot orientations.

A Schemtaic representation of “propulsion” and “tumbling” dynamical states, along with a time sequence of the bistable dynamics randomly jumping between the two states. The rotating drive in the xy-plane is stopped intermittently so as to get the nanobots oriented along random directions. The numerically calculated time series of the orientation angles for two nanobots show time windows when they are in the same state (inset i) and when they are not (inset ii). B Histogram of the orientation angles measured experimentally (\({\theta }_{A}\) and \({\theta }_{B}\)) for the nanobots A and B, respectively. C Screenshots of two nanobots intermittently randomized as per the schematic shown in panel (A). The symbols “Propulsion” and “Tumbling” correspond to two dynamical states during the bistable regime. D Plot of the orientations for the two nanobots after every randomization step conforms to the lack of correlation with each other. E Experimental screenshots of four nanobots during randomization demonstrate that any of the nanobots can be in either the tumbling or propulsion state at any given moment, with these state transitions occurring independently and uncorrelated with one another.