This paper explores controllability and efficient locomotion of a two-link planar robot balancing on a single, unactuated wheel. By actuating an internal degree of freedom, the model can indirectly produce ground reaction forces yielding net accelerations and decelerations, to achieve locomotion. As with classic humanoid locomotion, this toy system is particularly challenging to control due to ...

Locomotion and scratch are characterized by alternation of flexion and extension phases within one hindlimb, which are mediated by rhythm-generating circuitry within the spinal cord. By definition, the rhythm generator controls cycle period, phase durations, and phase transitions. The aim was to determine whether rhythm-generating mechanisms for locomotion and scratch are similar in adult decer...

The re-expression of hindlimb locomotion after complete spinal cord injuries (SCIs) is caused by the presence of a spinal central pattern generator (CPG) for locomotion. After partial SCI, however, the role of this spinal CPG in the recovery of hindlimb locomotion in the cat remains mostly unknown. In the present work, we devised a dual-lesion paradigm to determine its possible contribution aft...

Previous studies demonstrated that neuronal networks located in midlumbar segments (L3-L4) are critical for the expression of locomotion in cats following complete spinalization. In the present study the importance of several thoracolumbar segments (T8-L7) for the generation of spontaneous hindlimb locomotion in decerebrate cats was evaluated. Experiments were performed in high decerebrate cats...

We tested the hypothesis that the same spinal interneuronal pathways are activated by the reticulospinal system during locomotion and reaching. If such were the case, we expected that microstimulation within the pontomedullary reticular formation (PMRF) would evoke qualitatively similar responses in muscles active during both behaviors. To test this, we stimulated in 47 sites within the PMRF du...

We compared the activity profiles and synergies of spinal motoneurons recorded during fictive locomotion evoked in immobilized decerebrate cat preparations by midbrain stimulation to the activity profiles and synergies of the corresponding hindlimb muscles obtained during forward level walking in cats. The fictive locomotion data were collected in the Spinal Cord Research Centre, University of ...

Weekly locomotion scores on a scale of 1 to 5 were used to investigate the relationship between cattle lameness, management systems and the impact of lameness on milk production. The data were 14026 locomotion scores from 248 Holstein-Friesian cows. Cows were managed in two groups, XE (high-concentrate feed and housed indoors all year) and XM (low-concentrate feed and outdoors in summer). Analy...

Behavioral characteristics closely associated with specific physiological profiles present an important area of research in understanding health disparities. In particular, glucocorticoid overproduction may be an important factor moderating disease progression; natural variance in production of this steroid has been proposed as one mechanism underlying individual differences in health and disea...

The relationship between biomechanical action and perception of self-motion during walking is typically consistent and well-learned but also adaptable. This perceptual-motor coupling can be recalibrated by creating a mismatch between the visual information for self-motion and walking speed. Perceptual-motor recalibration of locomotion has been demonstrated through effects on subsequent walking ...