New perspectives on brachiation mechanics

✍ Scribed by John E.A. Bertram

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 352 KB
• Volume: 125
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9483
• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.20156

✦ Synopsis

This review is designed to evaluate and interpret studies relevant to the locomotory mode known as brachiation, particularly as performed by the Hylobatid apes: the gibbon and siamang species. The older literature and its conclusions are evaluated against recent work performed by the author and other research groups working on brachiation models, either computer simulations or physical robots. The gibbon displays two types of brachiation: continuous contact, analogous to walking, and ricochetal, analogous to running. Both brachiation gaits display substantial pendular exchange between kinetic and potential energy. However, the fundamental feature of either of these gaits is the minimization of collisional energy loss. Collisional energy loss due to discontinuities in the trajectory of the center of mass is emerging as key in understanding locomotion using limbs in any terrestrial environment. The insight gained from this perspective applied to gibbon locomotion demonstrates that this is