Meeting Abstract
Most legged locomotion occurs while animals are contacting the ground with multiple legs at a time, posing difficulties for modeling due to uncertainty about inter-leg force distribution and foot slipping outcomes. Just as the motion of small swimmers is friction dominated at low Reynolds numbers, the ratio of inertial to friction forces may make small legged animals friction dominated as well. If this were the case, a simplified “connection” model taking egocentric leg motions as inputs may be able to reproduce foot slippage and body center of mass motions. We present such a model, and its validation using data from running Blaberus discoidalis cockroaches. Such simplified models may help explain how multilegged animals control and plan their motions, and shed light on interactions between morphology and locomotor performance.
