NEUROMECHANICS OF SOFT-BODIED LOCOMOTION

尽管软体动物没有关节或僵硬的肢体，但它们能够做出复杂而精确的动作。这种运动通常涉及大量的肌肉，但在大多数情况下，控制是通过相对较少的神经元完成的。这些研究的一个最终目标是了解相对简单的神经系统是如何控制灵活的动作的。这项工作将使用一种大型毛虫，烟草角虫(Manduca Sexta)，因为它在分析神经系统和软组织的机械反应之间的相互作用方面具有几个强大的优势。这些实验将使用力测量、运动捕获和神经活动记录，以确定Manduca如何在不同的行为环境中控制其运动。此外，拉伸感受器对感觉信息的编码，以及肌肉对神经刺激的反应，都将在拉伸的自然周期中进行测量。总之，这些实验将全面描述软体腿部运动是如何被控制的，并为软材料在稳定运动中的作用提供新的见解。这项工作还将在生物力学、工程和机器人领域产生更广泛的影响。例如，了解软组织如何有助于控制和稳定奔跑的动物，同样也有助于假肢装置，这一点很重要。为此，这些研究正被用于合作项目，以帮助设计和制造新型可操纵的软体攀登机器人。除了其内在的科学重要性，这项研究还将在本科生、研究生和高级教育水平上提供全新的培训机会，但最重要的是，跨越生物、数学和工程学科。这项工作将与塔夫茨的一个新的生物和工程设施一起进行，该设施将支持在软材料及其在动物和有用设备中的控制的所有方面的跨学科研究和培训。

Despite their lack of joints or rigid limbs, soft-bodied animals are capable of complex and precise movements. Such movements often involve a large number of muscles and yet control is accomplished in most cases with relatively few neurons. One ultimate goal of these studies is to understand how flexible movements are controlled by relatively simple nervous systems. This work will use a large caterpillar, the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta), because it offers several powerful advantages for analyzing interactions between the nervous system and the mechanical responses of soft tissues. The experiments will use force measurements, motion capture, and recordings of nerve activity, to establish how Manduca controls its movements in different behavioral contexts. In addition, both the encoding of sensory information by stretch receptors, and the responses of muscles to neural stimuli, will be measured during natural cycles of stretching. Together, these experiments will provide a comprehensive description of how soft-bodied legged locomotion is controlled, and provide new insights into the role of soft materials in stable movements. This work will also have broader impacts in the fields of biomechanics, engineering, and robotics. For example, it is important to know how soft tissues contribute to the control and stability of running animals and equally for prosthetic devices. To this end, these studies are being used in collaborative projects to help design and build new types of maneuverable soft-bodied climbing robots. In addition to its intrinsic scientific importance, this research will provide completely new training opportunities at undergraduate, graduate, and advanced levels of education, but most importantly, across biological, mathematical, and engineering disciplines. The work will be carried out in association with a new biology and engineering facility at Tufts which will support cross-disciplinary research and training in all aspects of soft materials and their control in animals and useful devices.