The Ohio State University

Full Title: Why and how do animals walk and run: simple models, silly walks, moving walkways, bouncing on springs, etc.

Abstract: 

Humans "walk" when they wish to travel slowly, and "run" when they are in a hurry. But healthy human legs have over 50 muscles each and are capable of much more than walking and running. For instance, some human legs are capable of break dancing. So why do humans walk and run the way they do? Using a mixture of optimal control calculations and prior simple experiments, I will show some evidence that the way we walk and run are, in some sense, the least tiring -- that is, consume the least amount of energy from among the infinite variety of movements we are capable of. If there is time, I will talk about other little results about legged locomotion, including whether bipedal robots should imitate human walking, how people walk on moving walkways, how the springy tendons in our legs help us walk and run, etc.

Author Bio: 

Manoj Srinivasan is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Ohio State University. His undergraduate degree in engineering is from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He obtained a Ph.D.  from the department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at Cornell University, writing a dissertation about energy optimality in human locomotion. He spent a few years at Princeton University as a post- doctoral research associate and lecturer. Over the past few years, his research has been the subject of features in various popular science media, including the National Geographic Channel, the Discovery Channel, NPR, etc.