02205nas a2200253 4500008004100000022001400041245007200055210006900127260001200196490000600208520146100214653002201675653002201697653002501719653002101744653001701765653001601782653002001798653001801818100002501836700002301861700002201884856004501906 2018 eng d a2296-914400aPeristaltic Waves as Optimal Gaits in Metameric Bio-Inspired Robots0 aPeristaltic Waves as Optimal Gaits in Metameric BioInspired Robo c09/20180 v53 a

Peristalsis, i.e., a motion pattern arising from the propagation of muscle contraction and expansion waves along the body, is a common locomotion strategy for limbless animals. Mimicking peristalsis in bio-inspired robots has attracted considerable attention in the literature. It has recently been observed that maximal velocity in a metameric earthworm-like robot is achieved by actuating the segments using a “phase coordination” principle. This paper shows that, in fact, peristalsis (which requires not only phase coordination, but also that all segments oscillate at same frequency and amplitude) emerges from optimization principles. More precisely, basing our analysis on the assumption of small deformations, we show that peristaltic waves provide the optimal actuation solution in the ideal case of a periodic infinite system, and that this is approximately true, modulo edge effects, for the real, finite length system. Therefore, this paper confirms the effectiveness of mimicking peristalsis in bio-inspired robots, at least in the small-deformation regime. Further research will be required to test the effectiveness of this strategy if large deformations are allowed.

10aBiomimetic robots10aCrawling motility10aLumbricus terrestris10aMetameric robots10aOptimization10aPeristalsis10aSelf-propulsion10aSoft robotics1 aAgostinelli, Daniele1 aAlouges, François1 aDeSimone, Antonio uhttps://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2018.00099