We simulate the movement and agglomeration of oil droplets in water under constraints, like confinement, using a simplified stochastic-hydrodynamic model. In the analysis of the network created by the droplets in the agglomeration, we focus on the paths between pairs of droplets and compare the computational results for various system sizes.

Within the context of the European Horizon 2020 project ACDC , we intend to develop a probabilistic chemical compiler, to aid the construction of three-dimensional agglomerations of artificial hierarchical cellular constructs. These programmable discrete units offer a wide variety of technical innovations, like a portable biochemical laboratory that e.g. produces macromolecular medicine on demand. For this purpose, we have to investigate the agglomeration process of droplets and vesicles under proposed constraints, like confinement. This paper focuses on the influence of the geometry of the initialization and of the container on the agglomeration.

Liquid droplets possess some life-like behaviors and have been the subject of artificial life studies. Life-like behaviors such as fission, fusion and movement can be artificially recreated exploiting highly simplified chemical systems. Recently we showed that droplet-based chemotactic systems can be interfaced with biological systems (1). We developed a chemotactic droplet able to move light cargos such as hydrogel alginate capsules embedded with living cells as a transporter. We transported efficiently and in a sterile way a few types of bacteria and yeast, and we are now modifying our protocols to transport efficiently human cell lines. We recently discovered that some eukaryotic cell lines release surfactants when placed in our artificial transport system, thereby reinforcing the interface between the artificial and living systems. This is an example of not only how the interface between artificial life and biological life could be designed but how the one system can augment the other. In this case the living system produces the surfactants that the droplet needs for cargo transport and the artificial system provides the transport for the otherwise sessile mammalian cells.