Research
Geometric Shortcuts for Complex Trunk Postures: Dual-Helicity Coupling Enables Low-Dimensional Control
arXiv:2609.18050v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: How do elephant trunks generate complex postures without relying solely on fine segmental activation? We propose that part of this complexity arises fro
arXiv:2609.18050v1 Announce Type: new 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.
Source: arXiv cs.RO | 2026-09-17