BACKGROUND Adaptive, context-dependent control of locomotion requires modulation of centrally generated rhythmic motor patterns through peripheral control loops and postural reflexes. Thus assuming that the modulation of rhythmic motor patterns accounts for much of the behavioural variability observed in legged locomotion, investigating behavioural variability is a key to the understanding of c...

There is so far no quadruped robot that exhibits locomotion performance matching to that shown by animals every day. Both differences in general design concepts, in available materials and actuation mechanisms as well as a lack of understanding on the control of the robots’ actuators contribute to the current performance gap between robotic platforms and their biological counterparts. While for...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensorimotor interactions between unaffected and affected sides of post-stroke subjects during locomotion. In healthy subjects, stimulation of the tibial nerve during the mid-stance phase is followed by electromyography responses not only in the ipsilateral tibialis anterior, but also in the proximal arm muscles of both sides, with larger amplitudes pri...

Compared to agile legged animals, wheeled and tracked vehicles often suffer large performance loss on granular surfaces like sand and gravel. Understanding the mechanics of legged locomotion on granular media can aid the development of legged robots with improved mobility on granular surfaces; however, no general force model yet exists for granular media to predict ground reaction forces during...

The incidence of foot and leg problems and their direct and indirect consequences can be reduced by selection. The most promising approach is to select on an index that includes at least linear scores for foot angle or diagonal, rear legs rear view, and a locomotion score. Desirable are high foot angles, shorter diagonals, straighter rear legs from the rear with little to no closeness at the ho...

In many animals, the effects of sensory feedback on motor output change during locomotion. These changes can occur as reflex reversals in which sense organs that activate muscles to counter perturbations in posture control instead reinforce movements in walking. The mechanisms underlying these changes are only partially understood. As such, it is unclear whether reflex reversals are modulated w...

SYNOPSIS: The biorobotics group at CWRU follows a strategy of close interaction between engineers and neurobiologists to create improved robot designs and gain insights into neural control of legged locomotion. A series of legged vehicles has been developed. The first 2 robots were not based upon a particular insect. Robot I walked with insect gaits using network controllers. Robot II walked on...

The analysis of terrestrial locomotion over the past half century has focused largely on strategies of mechanical energy recovery used during walking and running. In contrast, we describe the underlying mechanics of legged locomotion as a collision-like interaction that redirects the centre of mass (CoM). We introduce the collision angle, determined by the angle between the CoM force and veloci...

Soft robots demonstrate an impressive ability to adapt objects and environments. However, current soft mobile often use a single mode of movement. This gives good locomotion performance in specific environments but poor others. In this paper, we propose leg–wheel mechanism inspired by bacterial flagella it design robot. employs tendon-driven continuum structure replicate the flagellar filaments...

This paper studies periodic gaits of multi-legged robot locomotion systems based on dynamic models. The purpose is to determine the system performance during walking and the best set of locomotion variables that minimizes the optimization indices. For that objective the prescribed motion of the robot is completely characterized in terms of several locomotion variables such as gait, duty factor,...