Cheetahs and beetles run, dolphins and salmon swim, and bees and birds fly with grace
and economy surpassing our technology. Evolution has shaped the breathtaking abilities of …

Research on the biomechanics of animal and human locomotion provides insight into basic
principles of locomotion and respective implications for construction and control. Nearly …

In this paper, the authors describe the design and control of RHex, a power autonomous,
untethered, compliant-legged hexapod robot. RHex has only six actuators—one motor …

Bipedal locomotion is among the most difficult challenges in control engineering. Most
books treat the subject from a quasi-static perspective, overlooking the hybrid nature of …

We demonstrate that an irreducibly simple, uncontrolled, two-dimensional, two-link model,
vaguely resembling human legs, can walk down a shallow slope, powered only by gravity …

Passive dynamic walking refers to a class of bipedal machines that are able to walk down a
gentle slope with no external control or energy input. The legs swing naturally as pendula …

Next to position x and velocity v of the whole body center of mass (CoM) the 'extrapolated
center of mass'(XcoM) can be introduced: ξ= x+ v/ω0, where ω0 is a constant related to …

The planar spring-mass model is frequently used to describe bouncing gaits (running,
hop**, trotting, gallo**) in animal and human locomotion and robotics. Although this …

Walking is an easy task for most humans and animals. Two characteristics which make it
easy are the inherent robustness (tolerance to variation) of the walking problem and the …

We address performance limits and dynamic behaviours of the two dimensional passive-
dynamic bipedal walking mechanisms of Tad McGeer. The results highlight the role of …