Self-propulsion of N-hinged ‘Animats’ at low reynolds number

Abstract

Optimal locomotion of micro-organisms (on a small Reynolds number flow) can be regarded as a sub-riemannian geometry on a principal bundle with a mechanical connection. Aiming at robotic applications flagella are modeled as concatenated line segments with variable hinge angles. As an example, we consider E. Purcell's 2-hinged animat [39], the simplest configuration capable to circumnvent Stokes flow reversibility.