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Animal microswimmers : closing the neuro-environment loop
Planar undulations are a common mechanism for biological locomotion across many scales and phyla. Here I review recent progress in understanding the locomotion control of a microscopic nematode worm, C. elegans, and the interplay between neural control, passive and active body forces and the interaction with Newtonian and non-Newtonian (viscoelastic) environments. I will begin by reviewing experimental evidence for the role of physics in modulating the kinematics of undulatory locomotion, including estimates of the forces acting on the worm across different media. Based on these results, I will present a neuromechanical model that accounts for a range of worm behaviors. In the second part of the talk, I will discuss experimental results and computational models of sensory motor control of navigation and exploration of the environment, governed by the worm’s head navigation circuit, with a focus on the constraints imposed by the embodiment and situatedness of the animal on the computation performed by the neural circuits.