Effect of intracoelomic administration of alfaxalone on the righting reflex and tactile stimulus response of common garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis)

Strahl-Heldreth, Danielle; Clark‐Price, Stuart C.; Keating, Stephanie; Escalante, Gabriela C.; Graham, Lori; Chinnadurai, Sathya K.; Schaeffer, David J.

doi:10.2460/ajvr.80.2.144

Cited by 11 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 40 publications

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“…For example, the high success rate of Controller P + HC indicates that the feedback control of the head may play an important role in exploring new environments, leading not only lateral bending [5,6] but also vertical bending. The high success rates of Controllers P + BC (A-B) indicate similar benefits of whole-body tactile sensing, which may be validated by observing how snakes react to various perturbations with reduced tactile stimulus response after anesthesia [55]. While in this study the robot did not have higher success rates when using whole-body tactile sensing than when using head tactile sensing only, the advantage likely exists when change of contact conditions are not sensible by the head (movie 3).…”

Section: Contributionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Contact feedback helps snake robots propel against uneven terrain using vertical bending

2023

Bioinspir. Biomim.

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Snakes can bend their elongate bodies in various forms to traverse various environments. We understand well how snakes use lateral body bending to push against asperities on flat ground for propulsion, and snake robots can do so effectively. However, snakes can also use vertical bending to push against uneven terrain of large height variation for propulsion, and they can adjust this bending to adapt to novel terrain presumably using mechano-sensing feedback control. Although some snake robots can traverse uneven terrain, few have used vertical bending for propulsion, and how to control this process in novel environments is poorly understood. Here we systematically studied a snake robot with force sensors pushing against large bumps using vertical bending to understand the role of sensory feedback control. We compared a feedforward controller and four feedback controllers that use different sensory information and generate distinct bending patterns and body-terrain interaction. We challenged the robot with increasing backward load and novel terrain geometry that break its contact with the terrain. We further varied how much the feedback control modulated body bending to conform to or push against the terrain to test their effects. Feedforward propagation of vertical bending generated large propulsion when the bending shape matched terrain geometry. However, when perturbations caused loss of contact, the robot easily lost propulsion or had motor overload. Contact feedback control resolved these issues by helping the robot regain contact. Yet excessive conformation interrupted shape propagation and excessive pushing stalled motors frequently. Unlike that using lateral bending, for propulsion generation using vertical bending, body weight that can help maintain contact with the environment but may also overload motors. Our results will help snake robots better traverse uneven terrain with large height variation and can inform how snakes use sensory feedback to control vertical body bending for propulsion.

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Section: Contributionmentioning

confidence: 85%