We study the possibility of efficient intermittent locomotion for two-link bodies that slide by changing their interlink angle periodically in time. We find that the anisotropy ratio of the sliding friction coefficients is a key parameter, while solutions have a simple scaling dependence on the friction coefficients' magnitudes. With very anisotropic friction, efficient motions involve coasting in low-drag states, with rapid and asymmetric power and recovery strokes. As the anisotropy decreases, burst-and-coast motions change to motions with long power strokes and short recovery strokes, and roughly constant interlink angle velocity on each. These motions are seen in the spaces of sinusoidal and power-law motions described by two and five parameters, respectively. Allowing the duty cycle to vary greatly increases the motions' efficiency compared to the case of symmetric power and recovery strokes. Allowing further variations in the concavity of the power and recovery strokes only improves the efficiency further when friction is very anisotropic. Near isotropic friction, a variety of optimally efficient motions are found with more complex waveforms. Many of the optimal sinusoidal and power-law motions are similar to those that we find with an optimization search in the space of more general periodic functions (truncated Fourier series). When we increase the resistive force's power law dependence on velocity, the optimal motions become smoother, slower, and less efficient, particularly near isotropic friction.
I. INTRODUCTIONIn this paper we study the optimal kinematics for intermittent locomotion by simple (two-link) bodies sliding on rough surfaces. Intermittent locomotion occurs when propulsive forces are applied (very) nonuniformly in time, perhaps for only a brief interval [1]. Such locomotion is often divided into two phases, termed burst and coast, power and recovery, or thrust and drag, for example. Much previous work has studied the optimal kinematics of bodies swimming in fluids, at low, intermediate (O(1)), and high Reynolds numbers (i.e. inverse viscosities). Bodies in fluids experience velocity-dependent drag forces that can penalize more rapid and intermittent motions to some degree.At low Reynolds number, for example, it can be shown that the most efficient swimming motions exert constant mechanical power [2], or have a constant stroke speed [3]. At higher Reynolds numbers, fluid drag typically scales as velocity squared, and steadier swimming speeds and propulsive forces may be more efficient for drag-based locomotion [4][5][6][7]. Interestingly, for undulatory high-Reynolds-number swimmers, intermittent (e.g. "burst-and-coast") swimming can be more efficient than steady swimming [8], in part because of boundary layer thinning during steady swimming