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Articulated swimming creatures

Authors:

C. Karen LiuAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), Volume 30, Issue 4

Article No.: 58, Pages 1 - 12

https://doi.org/10.1145/2010324.1964953

Published: 25 July 2011 Publication History

Abstract

We present a general approach to creating realistic swimming behavior for a given articulated creature body. The two main components of our method are creature/fluid simulation and the optimization of the creature motion parameters. We simulate two-way coupling between the fluid and the articulated body by solving a linear system that matches acceleration at fluid/solid boundaries and that also enforces fluid incompressibility. The swimming motion of a given creature is described as a set of periodic functions, one for each joint degree of freedom. We optimize over the space of these functions in order to find a motion that causes the creature to swim straight and stay within a given energy budget. Our creatures can perform path following by first training appropriate turning maneuvers through offline optimization and then selecting between these motions to track the given path. We present results for a clownfish, an eel, a sea turtle, a manta ray and a frog, and in each case the resulting motion is a good match to the real-world animals. We also demonstrate a plausible swimming gait for a fictional creature that has no real-world counterpart.

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Cited By

Wang CHuang H(2025)Physics-informed reinforcement learning framework for kinematics optimization of self-propelled articulated swimmersPhysics of Fluids10.1063/5.024958037:1Online publication date: 27-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0249580
Benchekroun OXie KLiu HGrinspun EAndrews SZordan V(2024)Actuators A La Mode: Modal Actuations for Soft Body LocomotionSIGGRAPH Asia 2024 Conference Papers10.1145/3680528.3687638(1-10)Online publication date: 3-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3680528.3687638
Soliman YPadilla MGross OKnöppel FPinkall USchröder P(2024)Going with the FlowACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/365816443:4(1-12)Online publication date: 19-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3658164
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Index Terms

Articulated swimming creatures
1. Computing methodologies
  1. Computer graphics
    1. Animation
  2. Modeling and simulation
    1. Simulation types and techniques
      1. Simulation by animation

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cover image ACM Transactions on Graphics

ACM Transactions on Graphics Volume 30, Issue 4

July 2011

829 pages

ISSN:0730-0301

EISSN:1557-7368

DOI:10.1145/2010324

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Copyright © 2011 ACM.

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Publication History

Published: 25 July 2011

Published in TOG Volume 30, Issue 4

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Cited By

Wang CHuang H(2025)Physics-informed reinforcement learning framework for kinematics optimization of self-propelled articulated swimmersPhysics of Fluids10.1063/5.024958037:1Online publication date: 27-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0249580
Benchekroun OXie KLiu HGrinspun EAndrews SZordan V(2024)Actuators A La Mode: Modal Actuations for Soft Body LocomotionSIGGRAPH Asia 2024 Conference Papers10.1145/3680528.3687638(1-10)Online publication date: 3-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3680528.3687638
Soliman YPadilla MGross OKnöppel FPinkall USchröder P(2024)Going with the FlowACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/365816443:4(1-12)Online publication date: 19-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3658164
Sar GGhosh D(2024)Concept of swarming and synchrony in aquatic animal movementsPhysics of Life Reviews10.1016/j.plrev.2024.02.00649(1-3)Online publication date: Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2024.02.006
Gross OSoliman YPadilla MKnöppel FPinkall USchröder P(2023)Motion from Shape ChangeACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/359241742:4(1-11)Online publication date: 26-Jul-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3592417
Ahn JIm ELee Y(2023)Learning Impulse-Reduced Gait for Quadruped Robot using CMA-ES2023 20th International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots (UR)10.1109/UR57808.2023.10202519(261-266)Online publication date: 25-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/UR57808.2023.10202519
Bern JPatterson ZYañez LMisquitta KRus D(2023)A Fabrication and Simulation Recipe for Untethering Soft-Rigid Robots with Cable-Driven Stiffness Modulation2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)10.1109/IROS55552.2023.10341630(8337-8342)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS55552.2023.10341630
Peng XGuo YHalper LLevine SFidler S(2022)ASEACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/3528223.353011041:4(1-17)Online publication date: 22-Jul-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3528223.3530110
Won JGopinath DHodgins J(2022)Physics-based character controllers using conditional VAEsACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/3528223.353006741:4(1-12)Online publication date: 22-Jul-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3528223.3530067
Liu WBai KHe XSong SZheng CLiu X(2022)FishGym: A High-Performance Physics-based Simulation Framework for Underwater Robot Learning2022 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)10.1109/ICRA46639.2022.9812066(6268-6275)Online publication date: 23-May-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ICRA46639.2022.9812066
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