An understanding of the gross mechanics of running is essential for the design of running robots that use dynamically stable gaits. In earlier papers [1, 2] the author and his colleagues analyzed the complete stride cycle for both transverse and rotary gallops. This resulted in a solution that required that the durations of the two flight phases should be equal, in both cases. Examination of experimental results indicates that this conclusion is quite wrong. Review of the analysis indicates that this result was driven by an assumption that the system behaves as a rigid body for motion about the roll axis. Abandoning that assumption produces a simpler analysis which produces results that are broadly consistent with available experimental data.
展开▼
