Limbless locomotors, from microscopic worms to macroscopic snakes, traverse complex,
heterogeneous natural environments typically using undulatory body wave propagation …

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 …

The small structures that decorate biological surfaces can significantly affect behavior, yet
the diversity of animal–environment interactions essential for survival makes ascribing …

Sidewinding is a form of locomotion executed by certain snakes and has been reconstructed
in limbless robots; the gait is beneficial because it is effective in diverse terrestrial …

Many animals generate propulsive forces by coordinating legs, which contact and push
against the surroundings, with bending of the body, which can only indirectly influence these …

Contact planning is crucial to the locomotion performance of robots: to properly self-propel
forward, it is not only important to determine the sequence of internal shape changes (eg …

Snakes excel at moving through cluttered environments, and heterogeneities can be used
as propulsive contacts for snakes performing lateral undulation. However, sidewinding …

Reorientation (turning in plane) plays a critical role for all robots in any field application,
especially those that in confined spaces. While important, reorientation remains a relatively …

Contact planning is crucial to the locomotion per-formance of limbless robots. Typically, the
pattern by which contact is made and broken between the mechanism and its environment …

Limbless robots have the potential to maneuver through cluttered environments that
conventional robots cannot traverse. As illustrated in their biological counterparts such as …