Optimizing snake locomotion on an inclined plane

Xiaolin Wang; Matthew T. Osborne; Silas Alben

doi:10.1103/physreve.89.012717

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arXiv · 1310.5668

Optimizing snake locomotion on an inclined plane

Xiaolin Wang·Matthew T. Osborne·Silas Alben

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Abstract

We develop a model to study the locomotion of snakes on an inclined plane. We determine numerically which snake motions are optimal for two retrograde traveling-wave body shapes---triangular and sinusoidal waves---across a wide range of frictional parameters and incline angles. In the regime of large transverse friction coefficient, we find power-law scalings for the optimal wave amplitudes and corresponding costs of locomotion. We give an asymptotic analysis to show that the optimal snake motions are traveling-wave motions with amplitudes given by the same scaling laws found in the numerics.

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Xiaolin Wang, Matthew T. Osborne, Silas Alben. 2013-10-18. Optimizing snake locomotion on an inclined plane. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.89.012717

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