Physics (Internal)

Active control of friction by snakes

This event is part of the Biophysics/Condensed Matter Seminar Series.

Abstract Snakes are one of the world's most versatile organisms, at ease slithering through rubble or climbing vertical tree trunks. Their adaptations for conquering complex dry terrain thus serve naturally as inspirations for search-and-rescue robotics. In a combined experimental and theoretical investigation, we elucidate the modes of locomotion used by snakes, including sinuous slithering, an accordion-like concertina motion and a worm-like rectilinear motion. We show how snakes optimize their efficiency by their choice of gait and frictional properties. Particular attention is paid to a novel paradigm in locomotion: a snake's active control of its scales enables it to modify its frictional interactions with the ground. We apply this discovery to build bio-inspired limbless robots that have superior sensitivity to the current state of the art: Scalybots 1 and 2 have individually controlled sets of belly scales enabling them to climb slopes of 45 degrees with their scales alone.