Oscillating Eel Robots That Leverage Collisions for Controllable Motions

We introduce a platform of oscillating eel-like robots that exploits physical collisions to enable controllable collective behaviors. Each robot is actuated by a Kuramoto-style central pattern generator, and produces undulatory motion that passively synchronizes through collisions with neighboring robots and a surrounding rigid membrane. Instead of avoiding collisions, the system leverages robot-robot and robot-environment interactions to bias collective forces and torques. Using motor current a