  One of the most challenging and basic problems in elastic rod dynamics is a
description of rods in contact that prevents any unphysical self-intersections.
Most previous works addressed this issue through the introduction of
short-range potentials. We study the dynamics of elastic rods with perfect
rolling contact which is physically relevant for rods with rough surface, and
cannot be described by any kind of potential. We derive the equations of motion
and show that the system is essentially non-linear due to the moving contact
position, resulting in a surprisingly complex behavior of the system.
