Local Controllability of a Magnetized Purcell’s Swimmer

This letter focuses on the control theory aspects of the dynamics of a magnetized micro-swimmer robot model made of three rigid links. Under generic assumptions on the parameters, we show that the control system which describes the swimmer dynamics is locally controllable in small time around its equilibrium position (the straight line), but with bounded controls that do not go to zero as the target state gets closer to the initial state. This result is relevant for useful applications in the micro-swimming field, and provides better understanding of this type of two-control systems.