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It is well known that animals can use neural and sensory feedback via vision, tactile sensing, and echolocation to negotiate obstacles. Similarly, most robots use deliberate or reactive planning to avoid obstacles, which relies on prior…
We tackle the question of how anisotropy in flows subject to background rotation favours structures elongated along the rotation axis, especially in turbulent flows. A new, wave-free mechanism is identified that challenges the current…
Various challenges are faced when animalcules such as bacteria, protozoa, algae, or sperms move autonomously in aqueous media at low Reynolds number. These active agents are subject to strong stochastic fluctuations, that compete with the…
A plethora of active matter models exist that describe the behavior of self-propelled particles (or swimmers), both with and without hydrodynamics. However, there are few studies that consider shape-anisotropic swimmers and include…
The analysis of animal tracking data provides an important source of scientific understanding and discovery in ecology. Observations of animal trajectories using telemetry devices provide researchers with information about the way animals…
Inspired by animal navigation strategies, we introduce a novel computational model to navigate and map a space rooted in biologically inspired principles. Animals exhibit extraordinary navigation prowess, harnessing memory, imagination, and…
Autonomous ocean-exploring vehicles have begun to take advantage of onboard sensor measurements of water properties such as salinity and temperature to locate oceanic features in real time. Such targeted sampling strategies enable more…
Soft robots require directional control to navigate complex terrains. However, achieving such control often requires multiple actuators, which increases mechanical complexity, complicates control systems, and raises energy consumption.…
A body immersed in a highly viscous fluid can locomote by drawing in and expelling fluid through pores at its surface. We consider this mechanism of jet propulsion without inertia in the case of spheroidal bodies, and derive both the…
Locomotion by shape changes (spermatozoon swimming, snake slithering, bird flapping) or gas expulsion (rocket firing) is assumed to require environmental interaction, due to conservation of momentum. As first noted in (Wisdom, 2003) and…
Snakes can move through almost any terrain. Although their locomotion on flat surfaces using planar gaits is inherently stable, when snakes deform their body out of plane to traverse complex terrain, maintaining stability becomes a…
Drifters designed to mimic floating marine debris and small patches of pelagic \emph{Sargassum} were satellite tracked in four regions across the North Atlantic. Though subjected to the same initial conditions at each site, the tracks of…
Many parts of biological organisms are comprised of deformable porous media. The biological media is both pliable enough to deform in response to an outside force and can deform by itself using the work of an embedded muscle. For example,…
Two main seismic features characterize the Earth's inner core: a North-South polar anisotropy and an East-West asymmetry of P-wave velocity and attenuation. Anisotropy is expected if shear deformation is induced by convective motions.…
Geophysical methods offer several key advantages over conventional subsurface measurement approaches, yet their use for hydrologic interpretation is often problematic. Here, we introduce theory and concepts of a novel Bayesian approach for…
Multi-legged mobile robots possess high mobility performance in rough terrain environments, stemming from their high postural stability, joint flexibility, and the redundancy provided by multiple legs. In prior research on navigating…
Ratcheting surfaces are a common motif in nature and appear in plant awns and grasses. They are known to profer selective advantages for seed dispersion and burial. In two simple model experiments we show that these anisotropically toothed…
Unicellular microscopic organisms living in aqueous environments outnumber all other creatures on Earth. A large proportion of them are able to self-propel in fluids with a vast diversity of swimming gaits and motility patterns. In this…
Animal movement exhibits complex behavior which can be influenced by unobserved environmental conditions. We propose a model which allows for a spatially-varying movement rate and spatially-varying drift through a semiparametric potential…
In this article an anisotropic interaction model avoiding collisions is proposed. Starting point is a general isotropic interacting particle system, as used for swarming or follower-leader dynamics. An anisotropy is induced by rotation of…