Figure 3.

Substrate stiffness greatly affects the body control of Manduca caterpillars as demonstrated in the suspension experiment. (A) There are no observable kinematics differences when the caterpillar is walking a stiff substrate. (B) Flexible substrate has variable curvature which the caterpillar simply adapts to it. (C) Soft substrate that cannot support bending load nor compression leads to gait confusion in the caterpillar's normal locomotion since the substrate fails to maintain the axial tension in the caterpillar body.