Title: Analyzing Flow Entanglement & Aggregation of Lumbriculus variegatus

Author (Table Talk): Simon Bissitt,

Abstract:

Lumbriculus Variegatus, more commonly known as California Blackworms, are aquatic worms on the scale of a centimeter found in freshwater wetlands whose behavior inspires development of soft robots in granular beds. These worms have been shown to exhibit entangling behaviors with one another, as well as collective assembly and aggregation in large magnitude of worms. The activity of the worms can change these phenomena, and factors like water flow and temperature gradients can change the activity of the worms. What we want to understand in this project is how factors like water flow change active processes like entanglement/aggregation, and how we can most effectively measure this through experiment.