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The oral surface of sea stars is lined with arrays of tube feet that enablethem to achieve highly controlled locomotion on various terrains. The activityof the tube feet is orchestrated by a nervous system that is distributedthroughout the body without a central brain. How such a distributed nervoussystem produces a coordinated locomotion is yet to be understood. We developmathematical models of the biomechanics of the tube feet and the sea star body.In the model, the feet are coupled mechanically through their structuralconnection to a rigid body. We formulate hierarchical control laws that capturesalient features of the sea star nervous system. Namely, at the tube footlevel, the power and recovery strokes follow a state-dependent feedbackcontroller. At the system level, a directionality command is communicatedthrough the nervous system to all tube feet. We study the locomotion gaitsafforded by this hierarchical control model. We find that theseminimally-coupled tube feet coordinate to generate robust forward locomotion,reminiscent of the crawling motion of sea stars, on various terrains and forheterogeneous tube feet parameters and initial conditions. Our model alsopredicts a transition from crawling to bouncing consistent with recentexperiments. We conclude by commenting on the implications of these findingsfor understanding the neuromechanics of sea stars and their potentialapplication to autonomous robotic systems.

Sea star inspired crawling and bouncing