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Locomotion and Particle Collection by Active Polymerlike Worms
Living worms such as Tubifex tubifex behave as active, flexible polymers that move and manipulate matter in confined environments. In this talk, I will present two recent studies that highlight how their polymerlike body and activity govern locomotion and transport. In the first part, we will show how worms navigate quasi-2D arrays of obstacles : ordered pillar lattices confine and trap them, while disordered environments paradoxically enhance their spreading, with activity levels playing a key role in mobility. In the second part, we will discuss how the same worms, when interacting with freely moving particles, can act as autonomous collectors : repeated contact and bending drive aggregation into clusters whose size is controlled by filament length and flexibility. Complementary experiments with robotic filaments and simulations reveal the same principles, providing a framework for locomotion in fixed landscapes and particle collection in mobile ones. Together, these results illustrate how active filamentous systems harness shape and flexibility to adapt, spread, and organize matter in complex environments.