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Synopsis

Sea stars coordinate hundreds of flexible tube feet to crawl efficiently despite lacking a centralized nervous system. This study reveals how sea stars dynamically adjust the duration of tube foot adhesion to maintain efficient crawling under varying mechanical demands, such as increased body mass or inverted posture. Using FTIR-based imaging, we quantified adhesion and detachment dynamics of individual tube feet under different mechanical conditions and combined these measurements with a biomechanical model assuming fully decentralized control. We show that locomotion emerges from local mechanical feedback: Tube feet autonomously adjust their adhesion time without any central coordination. This work uncovers a distributed control strategy in a brainless organism and identifies general principles of adaptive movement relevant to soft and multicontact robotics.

by Amandine Deridoux, Sina Heydari, Stanislav. N. Gorb, Eva Kanso, Patrick Flammang and Sylvain Gabriele
PNAS (2026)