Computer optimization of minimal biped model discovers walking and running
Article Abstract:
A minimal model is used to describe walking and running as well as an infinite variety of other gaits. Computer optimization is used to find which gaits are indeed energetically optimal for this model and it is found that at low speeds the optimization discovers the classic inverted-pendulum walk, at high speeds it discovers a bouncing run, even without springs, and at intermediate speeds it finds a new pendular-running gait that includes walking and running as extreme cases.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2006
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
A whirling dervish
Article Abstract:
Vega, the second brightest star in the northern night sky, is not turning unhurriedly as assumed, but rotating at a speed near to that at which it would fly apart. For astronomers, Vega is the most important star in the sky and is also the fundamental 'spectrophotometric' star, serving as the standard calibrating source of light for telescopes working in regions of the electromagnetic spectrum from the far ultraviolet through the visible to the infrared.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2006
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Long-term proliferation of mouse primordial germ cells in culture. Abrogation by c-myc of G1 phase arrest induced by RB protein but not by p53
- Abstracts: Guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioural research and teaching. Male infanticide in captive plains zebra, Equus burchelli
- Abstracts: Feminization of male carp. Neglected tests for neglected patients. Carp virus crisis prompts moves to avert global spread
- Abstracts: DNA antisense therapy for asthma in an animal model. Blocking adenosine with antisense. Entrepreneur contests spark innovation and provide a practice run for start-ups
- Abstracts: Impact of forest fragmentation on seedling abundance in a tropical rain forest. Recovery of Soil Macrofauna Communities after Forest Clearance in Eastern Amazonia, Brazil