Decentralized Control of Pedundulatory and Peristaltic Locomotion Inspired by Polycheates

Polychaete worms move effectively using pedundulatory locomotion (i.e., body undulation coordinated with parapodia motions) and peristalsis in response to the environment. However, the essential control mechanism underlying adaptive multi-modal locomotion in polychaetes remains unclear. In this study, we observed the locomotion when a part of the body was placed in a narrow space and found that the worm exhibited a mixed locomotor pattern along the body. Based on this finding, we proposed a decentralized control model that can produce the adaptive switch between the pedundulatory and peristaltic locomotion in polychaetes and validated it in simulation.