Simulation of snakes using vertical body bending to traverse terrain with large height variation

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Zhang, Yifeng, Xuan, Qihan, Fu, Qiyuan, Li, Chen
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2022
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author Zhang, Yifeng
Xuan, Qihan
Fu, Qiyuan
Li, Chen
author_facet Zhang, Yifeng
Xuan, Qihan
Fu, Qiyuan
Li, Chen
contents 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, Usher, Astley, 2021, J. Exp. Biol.), and uneven terrain (Fu & Li, 2020, Roy. Soc. Open Sci.; Fu, Astley, Li, 2022 Bioinspiration & Biomimetics). Here, to understand how vertical bending generates propulsion, we developed a dynamic simulation of a snake traversing a wedge (height = 0.05 body length, slope = 27 degrees) and a half cylindrical obstacle (height = 0.1 body length). By propagating down the body an internal torque profile with a maximum around the obstacle, the simulated snake moved forward as observed in the animal. Remarkably, even when frictional drag is low (snake-terrain kinetic friction coefficient of 0.20), the body must push against the wedge with a pressure 5 times that from body weight to generate sufficient forward propulsion to move forward. This indicated that snakes are highly capable of bending vertically to push against the environment to generate propulsion. Testing different controllers revealed that contact force feedback further helps generate and maintain propulsion effectively under unknown terrain perturbations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2207_13141
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Simulation of snakes using vertical body bending to traverse terrain with large height variation
Zhang, Yifeng
Xuan, Qihan
Fu, Qiyuan
Li, Chen
Quantitative Methods
Biological Physics
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, Usher, Astley, 2021, J. Exp. Biol.), and uneven terrain (Fu & Li, 2020, Roy. Soc. Open Sci.; Fu, Astley, Li, 2022 Bioinspiration & Biomimetics). Here, to understand how vertical bending generates propulsion, we developed a dynamic simulation of a snake traversing a wedge (height = 0.05 body length, slope = 27 degrees) and a half cylindrical obstacle (height = 0.1 body length). By propagating down the body an internal torque profile with a maximum around the obstacle, the simulated snake moved forward as observed in the animal. Remarkably, even when frictional drag is low (snake-terrain kinetic friction coefficient of 0.20), the body must push against the wedge with a pressure 5 times that from body weight to generate sufficient forward propulsion to move forward. This indicated that snakes are highly capable of bending vertically to push against the environment to generate propulsion. Testing different controllers revealed that contact force feedback further helps generate and maintain propulsion effectively under unknown terrain perturbations.
title Simulation of snakes using vertical body bending to traverse terrain with large height variation
topic Quantitative Methods
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.13141