Locomotion Systems Science Workshop in Arlington, VA

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The three-day "Locomotion Systems Science Workshop" to be held in May, in Arlington, VA, co-funded by NSF and ARO, will include a diversity of thinkers in biology, physics, engineering, chemistry, computer science, and mathematics, for the purpose of asking an actionable version of the question: why do animals move better than machines in typical terrestrial environments? One of the themes will be devoted to the question: how do living locomotion systems emerge from nonliving components and is there a "locomotion systems science" that can describe such emergence? The meeting will include a series of sessions that mix different modes of problem formulation and categories of problem. The participants will discuss: 1) Fundamental limits-- attempting to pin down how close to a limit evolution has selected an animal's operating point, and why, can help illuminate the analogous engineering tradeoffs between reductive focus on optimality of components and integrative emphasis on modularity achieved through better coordination of existing parts. 2) Multi-scale models-- compare and assess formalisms for multiple scale modeling and analysis. 3) Comparative Methods -- compare and interrelate traditional methods of inquiry in disciplines like biology, physics, mathematics, computer science. These will be focused on themes including Systems, Environment, Power and Information. The meeting with have an impact on our ability to develop efficient machines that use the basic motion principles that animals use.