"Mike Sobers" <sob### [at] mindspringcom> wrote:

> Actually, dogs walk and trot using the motion above.  However, I happened to
> be at the zoo yesterday and noticed that the elephants walk using the
> "always three feet on the ground" rule (I'm sure that there is a term for
> this).  I think you're right about the AT-AT motion from the movies though.
>  It would be much more stable that way.  Should be easy enough to fix ...

I haven't looked at your anim yet (I'm at home, on dialup), but there's
quite a lot of work out there on animal locomotion & gait patterns. For
example, from

http://www.springerlink.com/(rokz33i4rb0wxxagqzxsjq3h)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,1,16;jour
nal,141,465;linkingpublicationresults,1:100465,1

Hard-wired central pattern generators for quadrupedal locomotion
J. J. Collins1    and S. A. Richmond1

Abstract  Animal locomotion is generated and controlled, in part, by a
central pattern generator (CPG), which is an intraspinal network of neurons
capable of producing rhythmic output. In the present work, it is
demonstrated that a hard-wired CPG model, made up of four coupled nonlinear
oscillators, can produce multiple phase-locked oscillation patterns that

Transitions between the different gaits are generated by varying the
network's driving signal and/or by altering internal oscillator parameters.

Post a reply to this message