Meeting Abstract
Granular media interaction poses a highly nonlinear behavior, creating difficulties when formulating analytical models for locomotion studies. This inadequate understanding of moving bodies interacting with complex natural substrates has hindered the development of terrestrial all-terrain robots. Even with the recent performance of experimental and computational studies of dry granular media, wet granular media remain largely unexplored. More specifically, this encompasses animal locomotion analysis and the physics of granular media at different saturation levels. Given that the presence of liquid in granular media alters its properties, it is advantageous to evaluate the locomotion of animals inhabiting semi-aquatic and tropical environments to learn more about effective locomotion strategies on such terrains. Lizards are versatile and highly agile animals. Therefore, this study will evaluate lizard species from such habitats that are known for their performance on wet granular media. An extensive locomotion study and morphology characterization will be performed on several species such as Dappled, Brown and Carolina Anole. A ground control system sized at 2×1 m2 will be utilized for the granular locomotion experiments, where saturation level and inclination angle will be controlled. Simulations of the lizard interactions with wet granular media will also be performed in EDEM. This work aims to pave the way for developing bio-inspired robotic systems that can effectively traverse complex wet granular environments for scientific discovery, planetary exploration, or search-and-rescue missions.
