Robot re-creates a tetrapod's moves

摘要

Orobates pabsti lived between 280 million and 290 million years ago, but it was pretty advanced at doing the locomotion. Using computer simulations, fossil footprints, a re-created skeleton and a walking robot, scientists found that this ancient four-footed creature had a surprisingly efficient gait. That result suggests that evolving a more advanced way of walking may not have been as closely linked to the later diversification of tetrapods as once thought, the researchers report in the Jan. 17 Nature.