Mechanics and kinematics of backward burrowing by the polychaete <i>Cirriformia moorei</i>

Che, James; Dorgan, Kelly M.

doi:10.1242/jeb.049320

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…23 Groups led by Jung 24 and Arratia 25 studied the swimming of nematodes in wet granular media and enhanced mobility was found when compared with fluids. The digging of polychaete under muddy sediments was studied by Che et al, 26 and they explained their results using fracture mechanics. Gidmark et al 27 used x-ray to study the kinematics of the sandlance fish's burrowing process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effectiveness of resistive force theory in granular locomotion

2014

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Resistive force theory (RFT) is often used to analyze the movement of microscopic organisms swimming in fluids. In RFT, a body is partitioned into infinitesimal segments, each of which generates thrust and experiences drag. Linear superposition of forces from elements over the body allows prediction of swimming velocities and efficiencies. We show that RFT quantitatively describes the movement of animals and robots that move on and within dry granular media (GM), collections of particles that display solid, fluid, and gas-like features. RFT works well when the GM is slightly polydisperse, and in the "frictional fluid" regime such that frictional forces dominate material inertial forces, and when locomotion can be approximated as confined to a plane. Within a given plane (horizontal or vertical) relationships that govern the force versus orientation of an elemental intruder are functionally independent of the granular medium. We use the RFT to explain features of locomotion on and within granular media including kinematic and muscle activation patterns during sand-swimming by a sandfish lizard and a shovel-nosed snake, optimal movement patterns of a Purcell 3-link sand-swimming robot revealed by a geometric mechanics approach, and legged locomotion of small robots on the surface of GM. We close by discussing situations to which granular RFT has not yet been applied (such as inclined granular surfaces), and the advances in the physics of granular media needed to apply RFT in such situations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effectiveness of resistive force theory in granular locomotion

2014

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“…This same side-to-side motion may allow worms to systematically sample pore waters for dissolved chemical cues. The muscular posterior ends of worms can also function as wedges, allowing backward burrowing (Che & Dorgan 2010b). These ends may be particularly necessary in worms with a large aspect ratio (length/diameter), whose bodies are much more easily pulled than pushed along, analogous to engines at both ends of long trains .…”

Section: Motility and Habitatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet of Worms Emended: An Update of Polychaete Feeding Guilds

Jumars

Dorgan

Lindsay

2015

Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci.

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511

409

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Polychaetes are common in most marine habitats and dominate many infaunal communities. Functional guild classification based on taxonomic identity and morphology has linked community structure to ecological function. The functional guilds now include osmotrophic siboglinids as well as sipunculans, echiurans, and myzostomes, which molecular genetic analyses have placed within Annelida. Advances in understanding of encounter mechanisms explicitly relate motility to feeding mode. New analyses of burrowing mechanics explain the prevalence of bilateral symmetry and blur the boundary between surface and subsurface feeding. The dichotomy between microphagous deposit and suspension feeders and macrophagous carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores is further supported by divergent digestive strategies. Deposit feeding appears to be limited largely to worms longer than 1 cm, with juveniles and small worms in general restricted to ingesting highly digestible organic material and larger, rich food items, blurring the macrophage-microphage dichotomy that applies well to larger worms.

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“…(A) The polychaete Alitta virens extending a burrow by fracture in seawater gelatin (modified from Dorgan et al, 2007 ). Phases of burrowing cycles by (A) the razor clam, Ensis ( Trueman 1968 ; Figure 4) and (B,C) the worm, Cirriformia (modified from Che and Dorgan 2010b ; Figure 3) are consistent with this mechanism. (B) Schematic diagram of clam burrowing in sediment, showing alternating penetration anchor (phase i) and terminal anchor (phase iii-iv).…”

Section: Fundamental Problem Of Burrowingmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…(D) Images of C. moorei burrowing in gelatin, with phases corresponding to those indicated in the graph in (C) and the description of Ensis in (B) . Circles in phase iv indicate contact points of the worm with the burrow wall, and the lines show the tangent to those points (see Che and Dorgan 2010b for more detail).…”

Section: Fundamental Problem Of Burrowingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fundamentals of burrowing in soft animals and robots

Dorgan

Daltorio

2023

Front. Robot. AI

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Creating burrows through natural soils and sediments is a problem that evolution has solved numerous times, yet burrowing locomotion is challenging for biomimetic robots. As for every type of locomotion, forward thrust must overcome resistance forces. In burrowing, these forces will depend on the sediment mechanical properties that can vary with grain size and packing density, water saturation, organic matter and depth. The burrower typically cannot change these environmental properties, but can employ common strategies to move through a range of sediments. Here we propose four challenges for burrowers to solve. First, the burrower has to create space in a solid substrate, overcoming resistance by e.g., excavation, fracture, compression, or fluidization. Second, the burrower needs to locomote into the confined space. A compliant body helps fit into the possibly irregular space, but reaching the new space requires non-rigid kinematics such as longitudinal extension through peristalsis, unbending, or eversion. Third, to generate the required thrust to overcome resistance, the burrower needs to anchor within the burrow. Anchoring can be achieved through anisotropic friction or radial expansion, or both. Fourth, the burrower must sense and navigate to adapt the burrow shape to avoid or access different parts of the environment. Our hope is that by breaking the complexity of burrowing into these component challenges, engineers will be better able to learn from biology, since animal performance tends to exceed that of their robotic counterparts. Since body size strongly affects space creation, scaling may be a limiting factor for burrowing robotics, which are typically built at larger scales. Small robots are becoming increasingly feasible, and larger robots with non-biologically-inspired anteriors (or that traverse pre-existing tunnels) can benefit from a deeper understanding of the breadth of biological solutions in current literature and to be explored by continued research.

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Mechanics and kinematics of backward burrowing by the polychaete Cirriformia moorei

Cited by 11 publications

References 11 publications

The effectiveness of resistive force theory in granular locomotion

The effectiveness of resistive force theory in granular locomotion

Diet of Worms Emended: An Update of Polychaete Feeding Guilds

Fundamentals of burrowing in soft animals and robots

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