articleScience RoboticsJan 28, 2026GREEN OA

Energy efficiency and neural control of continuous versus intermittent swimming in a fishlike robot

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne · INESC TEC · +2 more institutions

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefpubmed

Abstract

Many aquatic animals, including larval zebrafish, exhibit intermittent locomotion, moving via discrete swimming bouts followed by passive glides rather than continuous movement. However, fundamental questions remain unresolved: What neural mechanisms drive this behavior, and what functional benefits does this behavior offer? Specifically, is intermittent swimming more energy efficient than continuous swimming, and, if so, by what mechanism? Live-animal experiments pose technical challenges, because observing or manipulating internal physiological states in freely swimming animals is difficult. Hence, we developed ZBot, a bioinspired robot that replicates the morphological features of larval zebrafish.…

Citation impact

5
total citations
FWCI
210.41
Percentile
100%
References
58
Too recent for citation history.

Authors

12

Topics & keywords

Keywords
  • Fish locomotion
  • Robot
  • Kinematics
  • Work (physics)
  • Actuator
  • Central pattern generator
  • Artificial neural network
  • Efficient energy use
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Affordable and clean energy
No related works found for this paper.

Funding