Areas of emphasis include

• Ground-moving self-propelling mechanisms: from mobile, spherical and legged locomotion devices to robot-technical models of snakes and multiped organisms;   
  

• Air and aquatic locomotion: mathematical models, simulations, robot-technical devices;

• Mechanical paradoxes and artefacts.

The main goal of the symposium is to promote an integrated approach to the understanding of the dynamical structures of mechanical artefacts on the one hand and living bodies on the other hand. Tops and mechanical toys, legged robots, artificial animals and a large variety of biological motion systems represent typical examples.  The dynamical behaviour of these seemingly different objectshas nevertheless much in common thus requiring a new sight and more interdisciplinary concepts. Usually that topic and the related problems in dynamics are modelled using the methods of rigid or elastic multibody dynamics without and with constraints and by methods of hydro- and aeromechanics, to name the most important ones. Many of these mechanisms include also friction or frictional contact problems, which require more sophisticated models than those existing in classical mechanics. Unilateral behaviour is an example. Friction plays a crucial role for the dynamics of tops, for the motion of snakes and, as noticed already by Sir G.Taylor, for self-propulsion of microscopic organisms in viscous fluids. In recent years research of fluid flow mechanisms used by fish and by marine mammals for the purpose of propulsion and maneuvering has clearly demonstrated the utility of bio-propulsion for undersea vehicles, convincingly illustrated by the famous RoboTuna apparatus. In a similar way the study of insect locomotion has turned out to be a rich source of information for biologically-inspired design of walking machines with some simple forms of autonomous intelligence. In the light of current research result in the form of theories, simulations and experimental data the whole area requires a multidisciplinary approach including united efforts and collaborations of scientists and engineers of very different areas. Therefore the symposium is expected to attract participants from a wide range of disciplines such as theoretical and applied mechanics, stability theory, computer science, biomechanics and biomimetics. We believe that most of the symposium contributions will be of common interest and wirthwhile for all participants.