Walking: Biological and Technological Aspects

1. Front Matter

   Pages ii-vi

   PDF

2. Biological Aspects of Locomotion

   • Teresa Zielinska

   Pages 1-29

3. Locomotion in Complex Terrain

   • Roy E. Ritzmann, Roger D. Quinn

   Pages 31-49

4. Evolution of Vertebrate Locomotory Systems

   • Martin S. Fischer, Hartmut F. Witte

   Pages 51-79

5. WalkNet — a Decentralized Architecture for the Control of Walking Behaviour Based on Insect Studies

   • Holk Cruse, Bettina Bläsing, Jeffrey Dean, Volker Dürr, Thomas Kindermann, Josef Schmitz et al.

   Pages 81-118

6. Technological Aspects of Walking

   • Friedrich Pfeiffer

   Pages 119-153

7. Motion Synthesis

   • Teresa Zielinska

   Pages 155-191

The book describes the results of research into the living world, which were conducted in such a way as to provide inspiration to engineering design of walking machines. The biological topics are presented in a form that is intelligible to engineers and can be applied in the design of mechanical devices. The text also introduces the design problems that are encountered during prototyping of specific robots. This information provides insight to biologists interested in basic physical properties of locomotion.

• biomorphic robots
• engineering design
• robotics
• Biomorph
• control
• design
• robot

• Technical University of Munich, Germany

  Friedrich Pfeiffer

• Warsaw University of Technology, Poland

  Teresa Zielinska

Policies and ethics