Locomotive Characteristics of Body and Limb in a Terrestrial Vertebrates
Locomotion of many living creatures remains infinitely more advanced and elegant than that of present-day legged walking robots. However, the principles of existing systems are based more on technical rather than on biological concepts, yielding unstable locomotion with low speed. In order to apply those advanced biological phenomena to the design of a Quadruped, the structural and locomotive characteristics of several selected animals are studied. Also, the four-legged walking machine, covering all existing leg arrangements and locomotion patterns, is modeled by a rigid multi-body system, consisting of 13 links and 12 joints. As a time variable, the model is simulated to prove the optimal conditions, which satisfy the principle of minimum energy expenditure.