Related papers: Efficient sliding locomotion of three-link bodies
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…
Many previous studies of sliding locomotion have assumed that body inertia is negligible. Here we optimize the kinematics of a three-link body for efficient locomotion and include among the kinematic parameters the temporal period of…
We study the possibility of efficient intermittent locomotion for two-link bodies that slide by changing their interlink angle periodically in time. We find that the anisotropy ratio of the sliding friction coefficients is a key parameter,…
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…
Inchworm crawling allows for both quasistatic and dynamic gaits at a wide range of actuation frequencies. This locomotion mechanism is common in nonskeletal animals and exploited extensively in the bio-inspired field of soft robotics. In…
Fluid-based locomotion at low Reynolds number is subject to the constraints of the scallop theorem, which dictate that body kinematics identical under a time-reversal symmetry (in particular, those with a single degree of freedom) cannot…
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…
An elastic layer slides on a rigid flat governed by Coulomb's friction law. We demonstrate that if the coefficient of friction is high enough, the sliding localizes within stick-slip pulses, which transform into opening waves propagating at…
Dynamics simulation with frictional contacts is important for a wide range of applications, from cloth simulation to object manipulation. Recent methods using smoothed lagged friction forces have enabled robust and differentiable simulation…
The gaits of undulating animals arise from a complex interaction of their central nervous system, muscle, connective tissue, bone, and environment. As a simplifying assumption, many previous studies have often assumed that sufficient…
Sliding friction between two dry surfaces is reasonably described by the speed-independent Amonton-Coulomb friction force law. However, there are many situations where the frictional contact points between two surfaces are "active" and may…
Locomotion is typically studied either in continuous media where bodies and legs experience forces generated by the flowing medium, or on solid substrates dominated by friction. In the former, centralized coordination is believed to…
Animals achieve robust locomotion by offloading regulation from the brain to physical couplings within the body. In contrast, locomotion in artificial systems often depends on centralized processors. We introduce a rapid and autonomous…
We study stochastic motion under a nonlinear frictional force that levels off with increasing velocity. Specifically, our frictional force is of the so-called Coulomb-tanh type. At small speed, it increases approximately linearly with…
A beam-slider system is considered whose passive self-adaption relies on an intricate locomotion process involving both frictional and unilateral contact. The system also exploits geometric nonlinearity to achieve broadband efficacy. The…
Empirical observations indicate striking similarities among locomotion in terrestrial animals, birds, and fish, but unifying physical grounds are lacking. When applied to efficient locomotion, the analytical mechanics principle of minimum…
A modification of Coulomb's law of friction uses a variable coefficient of friction that depends on a power law in the energy of mechanical oscillation. Through the use of three different exponents: 0, 1/2 and 1; all commonly encountered…
Active control of friction by ultrasonic vibration is a well-known effect with numerous technical applications ranging from press forming to micromechanical actuators. Reduction of friction is observed with vibration applied in any of the…
The mechanical response of elastic porous media confined within rigid geometries is central to a wide range of industrial, geological, and biomedical systems. However, current models for these problems typically overlook the role of wall…
Dry friction has been proposed as a rectifying mechanism allowing mass transport over a vibrating surface, even when vibrations are horizontal and unbiased. It has been suggested that the drift velocity will always saturate when the energy…