URL: http://www.uni-jena.de/en/PM090306_Locomorph_en.pdf
Why a giraffe cannot walk like a dachshund
Scientists at Jena University explore human locomotion within EU
project
At first they can hardly move forward, then they start to crawl and
finally - after having stood up straight by themselves for the first
time - they are filled with sheer enthusiasm about walking. "The
way children learn how to walk is quite similar to the evolutionary
transition from the four-legged to the two-legged gait”, says Dr.
André Seyfarth from the Univer−sity of Jena. Together with an
interna−tional team of researchers he tries to find out how this
transition works mechanically. Therefore a cooperation project
has been started with colleagues from Switzerland, Belgium,
Margit Schaarschmidt from the
Denmark and Canada. It is funded with EUR 2.7 million by the
Jena Locomotion Laboratory
European Commission for the next four years. Dr. Seyfarth’s team
measures
the movement of test
in Jena receives EUR 515.000 of it.
persons by means of specially
adapted orthoses.
Locomorph is the new project’s name - deriving from the words
locomotion and mor−phology. This literally means shape of
movement. And that is exactly what André Sey−−farth aims at:
”We want to understand the mechanical and neuronal
communica−tion in the moving leg - in order to copy it." The
construction of modular walking ro−bots which help to imitate the
development from the four-legged to the two-legged locomotion is
planned as the last of the project’s three parts. But beforehand
the scientists have to analyse and study movement as well as to
develop computer models.
At the Jena Locomotion Laboratory now the movement of test
persons on a treadmill is going to be examined. Specially fitted
orthoses are also being used for that. They are normally used for
supporting parts of the body that are limited in function, for
example for stabilising joints after a sporting accident. "The
mechanics of our ortho−ses have been rebuilt in such way",
explains André Seyfarth, "that we can imi−tate ty−pical movement
programs from the outside. The body then can signal us if the
pro−gramme is perceived in a positive or negative way". Thus the
researchers are able to find out if this is the natural state already
or if they must go on searching for the right solution. "So to speak,
we go the other way around. We try to explain biolo−gical matters
by identifying basic mechanisms and offering them to the body",
says Sey−farth.
Why a giraffe cannot walk like a dachshund
Photo: Anne Guenther/FSU
Several sensors measure the
activity of the muscles as the
body's reaction to the modified
orthoses.
Photo: Anne Guenther/FSU
1
In addition to the analyses of the Jena team the colleagues in Belgium take similar measurements
with lizards, primates and toddlers. "From this we hope for an exact image of the movement
patterns at the transition from the four-legged to the two-legged gait”, explains Seyfarth.
On the basis of these data the scientists want to develop a computer model which could then be
converted into a technical system. Therefore several walking robots are constructed which allow
the imaging and testing of such movement models. The ad−van−tage of a technical system is
obvious for team leader André Seyfarth: It can be touched and changed, and it examines the
reaction caused by the change. "In this way we come closer to the real processes of human motion
step by step.”
The project’s goal is to create a tool by means of robotics which depicts and explains the different
human and biological stages of development of the movement morpho−logy. This makes it
possible to develop individual therapies and prostheses for pa−tients with motor dysfunctions or leg
amputations. Each human being has a very in−dividual gait. That is why Seyfarth considers the
traditional method of comparing individual movement patterns to normative reference curves
unfavourable. It simply cannot depict the individual motions of a certain body. "If a giraffe is forced
to walk like a dachshund it will always remain unhappy since the giraffe simply cannot realise it”,
Seyfarth explains the problem.
"In four years", he hopes, "with the help of the research results, we might already have established
a better basis for the treatment of motor disorders, for instance after an accident. Such treatment
could take into consideration the individual morpho−logi−cal preconditions for the locomotion of a
single patient.”
Contact:
Dr. André Seyfarth
Institute of Sport Science · University of Jena
Dornburger Str. 23
D-07743 Jena
Phone: +49-3641-945730
Email: [email protected]
Meldung vom: 06.03.2009 10:03 Uhr
Scientists at Jena University explore human locomotion within EUproject
2