Motion of Chains of Bodies in Resistive Media

Worm-like locomotion systems that consist of rigid bodies consecutively connected (by prismatic joints) into a chain are considered. The system moves along a straight line in a resistive environment. All bodies of the chain interact with the environment. The system is controlled by drives that generate the forces of interaction between the neighboring bodies. The control modes that provide a progressive motion of the system in a periodic manner in the environments with different resistance laws are designed. The design parameters and the control laws are optimized to maximize the average velocity of the motion of the chain or the energy consumption per unit path length.