Motivation

Insects generate a variety of locomotion patterns depending on their environment, e.g. on the ground, on the water-surface, underwater or in the air. Furthermore, they can walk effectively even if they suffer limb-loss. This means they are also adaptive to morphological changes. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the mechanism of insect’s locomotion.

Approach

It is reported that insects generate a variety of locomotion depending on environment [1]. Furthermore, we find that insects changed their locomotion depending on viscosity of the liquid[2]. From this result, we assume insects change their locomotion by the reaction force from environment. We try to make the mathematical model for insects by extending the model of quadruped animal proposed in our lab[3]. We develop the model and verify it by the computer simulation and hexapod robot.

[1]T.Matsuura, et al., "Motor program initiation and selection in crickets, with special reference to swimming and flying behavior." Journal of Comparative Physiology A 187.12 (2002): 987-995.

[2]H.Aonuma, et al., "Cricket switches locomotion patterns from walking to swimming by evaluating reaction forces from the environment". 7th Int. Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines. Cambridge (2015).

[3]D.Owaki, et al., "Simple robot suggests physical interlimb communication is essential for quadruped walking." Journal of The Royal Society Interface (2012): rsif20120669.