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Related papers: Optimizing snake locomotion on an inclined plane

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We develop a numerical scheme to determine which planar snake motions are optimal for locomotory efficiency, across a wide range of frictional parameter space. For a large coefficient of transverse friction, we find that retrograde…

Biological Physics · Physics 2013-04-17 Silas Alben

We determine analytically the form of optimal snake locomotion when the coefficient of transverse friction is large, the typical regime for biological and robotic snakes. We find that the optimal snake motion is a retrograde traveling wave,…

Biological Physics · Physics 2013-04-17 Silas Alben

We optimize three-dimensional snake kinematics for locomotor efficiency. We assume a general space-curve representation of the snake backbone with small-to-moderate lifting off the ground and negligible body inertia. The cost of locomotion…

Biological Physics · Physics 2022-05-11 Silas Alben

We analyze two- and three-link planar snake-like locomotion and optimize the motion for efficiency. The locomoting system consists of two or three identical inextensible links connected via hinge joints, and the angles between the links are…

Biological Physics · Physics 2013-07-01 Fangxu Jing , Silas Alben

In this theoretical study, we present an analytical framework to investigate the slithering motion of snakes on flat surfaces. While previous studies have predominantly relied on numerical methods to identify optimal locomotion kinematics,…

Biological Physics · Physics 2024-12-06 Yogesh Phalak , Hodjat Pendar

Snakes' bodies are covered in scales that make it easier to slide in some directions than in others. This frictional anisotropy allows for sliding locomotion with an undulatory gait, one of the most common for snakes. Isotropic friction is…

Biological Physics · Physics 2019-06-12 Silas Alben

Contact-rich problems, such as snake robot locomotion, offer unexplored yet rich opportunities for optimization-based trajectory and acyclic contact planning. So far, a substantial body of control research has focused on emulating snake…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-08-06 Adarsh Salagame , Eric Sihite , Alireza Ramezani

Bioinspired snake robotics has been a highly active area of research over the years and resulted in many prototypes. Much of these prototypes takes the form of serially jointed-rigid bodies. The emergence of soft robotics contributed to a…

Robotics · Computer Science 2019-08-15 Isuru S. Godage

We examine the problem of snake-like locomotion by studying a system consisting of a planar inextensible elastic rod that is able to control its spontaneous curvature. Using a Cosserat model we derive, through variational principles, the…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2017-02-02 Giancarlo Cicconofri , Antonio DeSimone

Snakes are a remarkable evolutionary success story. Many snake-inspired robots have been proposed over the years. Soft robotic snakes (SRS) with their continuous and smooth bending capability better mimic their biological counterparts'…

Robotics · Computer Science 2020-10-23 Dimuthu D. Arachchige , Yue Chen , Isuru S. Godage

Flying snakes use a unique method of aerial locomotion: they jump from tree branches, flatten their bodies and undulate through the air to produce a glide. The shape of their body cross-section during the glide plays an important role in…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2014-03-06 Anush Krishnan , John J. Socha , Pavlos P. Vlachos , L. A. Barba

We propose a geometric model for optimal shape-change-induced motions of slender locomotors, e.g., snakes slithering on sand. In these scenarios, the motion of a body in world coordinates is completely determined by the sequence of shapes…

Robotics · Computer Science 2026-02-13 Oliver Gross , Florine Hartwig , Martin Rumpf , Peter Schröder

Many snakes live in deserts, forests, and river valleys and traverse challenging 3-D terrain like rocks, felled trees, and rubble, with obstacles as large as themselves and variable surface properties. By contrast, apart from branch…

Biological Physics · Physics 2025-09-16 Sean W. Gart , Thomas W. Mitchel , Chen Li

Snake robots offer considerable potential for endoscopic interventions due to their ability to follow curvilinear paths. Telemanipulation is an open problem due to hyper-redundancy, as input devices only allow a specification of six degrees…

Robotics · Computer Science 2024-04-17 Tim-Lukas Habich , Melvin Hueter , Moritz Schappler , Svenja Spindeldreier

Nature suggests that exploiting the elasticities and natural dynamics of robotic systems could increase their locomotion efficiency. Prior work on elastic snake robots supports this hypothesis, but has not fully exploited the nonlinear…

Robotics · Computer Science 2026-05-14 Tristan Ehlert , Arne Sachtler , Annika Schmidt , Davide Calzolari , Alin Albu-Schäffer

We have developed a toy model of flying snake's glide [J.J. Socha, Nature vol. 418 (2002) 603.] by modifying a model for a falling paper. We have found that asymmetric oscillation is a key about why snake can glide. Further investigation…

Pattern Formation and Solitons · Physics 2007-05-23 Koji Matsumura , Y-h. Taguchi

In this paper we propose a method for computing the contour of an object in an image using a snake represented as a subdivision curve. The evolution of the snake is driven by its control points which are computed minimizing an energy that…

Inspired by the dynamic coupling of moto-neurons and physical elasticity in animals, this work explores the possibility of generating locomotion gaits by utilizing physical oscillations in a soft snake by means of a low-level spiking neural…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-02-11 Chuhan Zhang , Cong Wang , Wei Pan , Cosimo Della Santina

Snake moves across various terrains by bending its elongated body. Recent studies discovered that snakes can use vertical bending to traverse terrain of large height variation, such as horizontally oriented cylinders, a wedge (Jurestovsky,…

Quantitative Methods · Quantitative Biology 2025-09-29 Yifeng Zhang , Qihan Xuan , Qiyuan Fu , Chen Li

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…

Biological Physics · Physics 2025-09-18 Qiyuan Fu , Chen Li
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