Geometric Shortcuts for Complex Trunk Postures: Dual-Helicity Coupling Enables Low-Dimensional Control

Abstract:How do elephant trunks generate complex postures without relying solely on fine segmental activation? We propose that part of this complexity arises from a low-dimensional geometric shortcut: dual-helicity coupling between opposite-handed oblique muscles. In a simplified soft-robotic prototype, varying only two geometric parameters generates a broad library of elephant-like postures, suggesting a dual-layer control architecture with implications for continuum robot design and biological hypotheses.

Robotics (cs.RO)

arXiv:2609.18050 [cs.RO]

(or arXiv:2609.18050v1 [cs.RO] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.18050 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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