This suggests that insect-inspired robot designers should move away from the three-legged gait paradigm and in turn consider other possibilities, including a new type of walking strategy called "bipedal gait."
The co-leader of the study said: "We want to determine why insects use the three-legged gait, and we also want to determine if the three-legged gait is the fastest walking method for hexapods and six-legged robots."
To test various gait combinations, the researchers used a similar evolutionary algorithm to optimize the walking speeds modeled on the Drosophila melanogaster insect model, which is commonly studied in biology. This algorithm screens many different gaits, eliminates the slowest gait and picks the fastest gait.
The study found that if the tip of the insect leg has adhesion, the optimal gait when climbing a vertical surface is a triangular gait. In contrast, insect simulation experiments with no adhesion in the legs showed that the gait of the feet is faster and more effective - although in nature no insects would walk like this.
The researchers constructed a six-legged robot that is compatible with three-legged gait or two-legged gait walking. Bipedal gait was once again proven to be faster, which also confirmed the results of the simulation algorithm. (Text/Tina Compilation)
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