Meeting Abstract

91.3  Friday, Jan. 7  Subtle differences in gaits: the perspective of data driven Floquet analysis REVZEN, s*; GUCKENHEIMER, j/m; FULL, r/j; University of Pennsylvania; Cornell University; University of California at Berkeley shrevzen@seas.upenn.edu

Most rapid forms of animal locomotion involve producing a gait – a rhythmic sequence of body motions that propels the body through space by acting on the environment. Gaits are stable with respect to environmental perturbations. Data driven Floquet analysis promises a quantitative model of gait derived purely from kinematic measurements. The model encompasses familiar concepts such as averaged cycles, phase response curves and stability eigenvalues, as well as the less familiar Floquet modes. Our models of gait provide a prediction of future animal motions against which neuromechanical control hypothesis may be statistically tested. By computing Floquet modes of seemingly similar gaits, we can expose the fact that these gaits are sensitive to perturbations in very different ways — producing testable hypotheses can that separate these gaits empirically.