Publications by authors named "Eva Erickson"
Self-propulsion via slipping: Frictional swimming in multilegged locomotors.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
March 2023
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 whole-body coordination is believed to facilitate appropriate slipping through the medium for propulsion. In the latter, slip is often assumed minimal and thus avoided via decentralized control schemes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCentipedes coordinate body and limb flexion to generate propulsion. On flat, solid surfaces, the limb-stepping patterns can be characterized according to the direction in which limb-aggregates propagate, opposite to (retrograde) or with the direction of motion (direct). It is unknown how limb and body dynamics are modified in terrain with terradynamic complexity more representative of these animal's natural heterogeneous environments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Lizards show diverse body forms that aid in movement through various environments, but how their limbs and bodies coordinate during locomotion remains mostly unexplored.
- Research combines biological experiments and geometric theories to analyze how different body shapes, like short limbs versus elongated bodies, affect movement patterns; findings suggest that a "traveling wave" motion is more efficient for certain lizards.
- The study's results could enhance knowledge about evolutionary adaptations in lizards and contribute to improvements in robotic designs that mimic these movement patterns.