ArticleNature communications2017
Climbing favours the tripod gait over alternative faster insect gaits.
Article in Nature communications, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 106 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Rapid moving by liquid-amplified electrostatic rolling.Science advances · 2025Article
- Passive muscle forces inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Enhancing Legged Robot Locomotion Through Smooth Transitions Using Spiking Central Pattern Generators.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
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- Interfacial vortex recapture enhances thrust in tiny water skaters.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Sensorimotor delays constrain robust locomotion in a 3D kinematic model of fly walking.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- I2Bot: an open-source tool for multi-modal and embodied simulation of insect navigation.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- NeuroMechFly v2: simulating embodied sensorimotor control in adult Drosophila.Nature methods · 2024Article
- Natural variability and individuality of walking behavior in Drosophila.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- The Characteristics, Distribution, Function, and Origin of Alternative Lateral Horse Gaits.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- How the conception of control influences our understanding of actions.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2023Review
- Design, Analysis and Experiments of Hexapod Robot with Six-Link Legs for High Dynamic Locomotion.Micromachines · 2022Article
- Motor dysfunction iniScience · 2022Article
- NeuroMechFly, a neuromechanical model of adult Drosophila melanogaster.Nature methods · 2022Article
- Kinematic Modeling at the Ant Scale: Propagation of Model Parameter Uncertainties.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Article
- Motorized Treadmill and Optical Recording System for Gait Analysis of Grasshoppers.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Descending and Ascending Signals That Maintain Rhythmic Walking Pattern in Crickets.Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To escape danger or catch prey, running vertebrates rely on dynamic gaits with minimal ground contact. By contrast, most insects use a tripod gait that maintains at least three legs on the ground at any given time. One prevailing hypothesis for this difference in fast locomotor strategies is that tripod locomotion allows insects to rapidly navigate three-dimensional terrain. To test this, we computationally discovered fast locomotor gaits for a model based on Drosophila melanogaster. Indeed, the tripod gait emerges to the exclusion of many other possible gaits when optimizing fast upward climbing with leg adhesion. By contrast, novel two-legged bipod gaits are fastest on flat terrain without adhesion in the model and in a hexapod robot. Intriguingly, when adhesive leg structures in real Drosophila are covered, animals exhibit atypical bipod-like leg coordination. We propose that the requirement to climb vertical terrain may drive the prevalence of the tripod gait over faster alternative gaits with minimal ground contact.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.