Abstract
Studying the locomotive behavior of animals has the potential to inspire the design of the mechanism and gait patterns of robots (“bio-inspired robots”). The kinematics characteristics of a spider (Ornithoctonus huwena), including movement of the legs, movement of the center of mass (COM) and joint-rotation angle, were obtained from the observation of locomotion behaviors recorded by a three-dimensional locomotion observation system. Our results showed that one set of the stance phase consists of four legs, which were leg-1 and leg-3 on one side and leg-2 and leg-4 on the other side. Additionally, two sets of the stance phase comprised eight legs alternately supporting and driving the motion of the spider’s body. The spider primarily increased its movement velocity by increasing stride frequency. In comparison to other insects, the spider, O. huwena, has superior movement stability. The velocity and height of COM periodically fluctuated during movement, reaching a maximum during alternation of leg phase, and falling to a minimum in the steady stance phase. The small change in deflection angle of the hind-leg was effective in driving locomotion, whereas each joint-rotation angle of the fore-leg changed irregularly during locomotion. This research will help in the design of bio-inspired robots, including the selection of gait planning and its control.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Zaaf A, Damme R V, Herrel A, et al. Spatio-temporal gait characteristics of level and vertical locomotion in a ground-dwelling and a climbing gecko. J Exp Biol, 2001, 204: 1233–1246
Dickinson M H, Farley C T, Full R J, et al. How animals move: An integrative view. Science, 2000, 288: 100–106
Sirirak T N P, Tai Y C, Ho C M, et al. Microbat: A palm-sized electrically powered ornithopter. In: Workshop on Biomorphic Robotics, 2000, 8: 14–16
Wang M, Zang X Z, Fan J Z, et al. Biological jumping mechanism analysis and modeling for frog robot. J Bio Eng, 2008, 5: 181–188
Crespi A, Badertscher A, Guignard A, et al. Amphibot I: An amphibious snake-like robot. Rob Auto Sys, 2005, 50: 163–175
Kato N. Control performance in the horizontal plane of a fish robot with mechanical pectoral fins. IEEE J Oceanic Eng, 2000, 25: 121–129
Collins S, Ruina A, Tedrake R, et al. Efficient bipedal robots based on passive-dynamic walkers. Science, 2005, 307: 1082–1085
Manter J T. The dynamics of quadrupedal walking. J Exp Biol, 1938, 15: 522–540
Pridmore P A. Trunk movements during locomotion in the marsupial monodelphis domestica (Didelphidae). J Morphol, 1992, 211: 137–146
Coppenolle V I, Aerts P. Terrestrial locomotion in the white stork (Ciconia ciconia): spatio-temporal gait characteristics. Animal Bio, 2004, 54: 281–292
Wittlinger M, Wenner R, Wolf H. The desert ant odometer: A stride integrator that accounts for stride length and walking speed. J Exp Biol, 2006, 210: 198–207
Anderson F C, Pandy M G. Dynamic optimization of human walking. J Biomech Eng, 2001, 123: 381–390
Full R J, Tu M S. Mechanics of a rapid running insect: Two-, four-, and six-legged locomotion. J Exp Biol, 1991, 156: 215–231
Chen J J, Peattie A M, Autumn K, et al. Differential leg function in a sprawled-posture quadrupedal trotter. J Exp Biol, 2006, 209: 249–259
Li H K, Dai Z D, Shi A J, et al. Angular observation of joints of geckos moving on horizontal and vertical surfaces. Chinese Sci Bull, 2009, 54: 592–598
Liang S P, Qin Y B, Zhang D Y, et al. Biological characterization of spider (Ornithoctonus huwena) crudevenom (in Chinese). Zoolog Res, 1993, 14: 60–65
Fei R, Yang Y, Zhang L J, et al. Advance research and application of spider venom (in Chinese). J Jilin Univer (Med Ed), 2004, 30: 994–996
Madsen B, Shao Z Z, Vollrath F. Variability in the mechanical properties of spider silks on three levels: Interspecific, intraspecific and intraindividual. Int J Biol Macromol, 1999, 24: 301–306
Oroudjev E, Soares J, Arcidiacono S, et al. Segmented nanofibers of spider dragline silk: Atomic force microscopy and single-molecule force spectroscopy. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2002, 99: 6460–6465
Land M F. Stepping movements made by jumping spiders during turns mediated by the lateral eyes. J Exp Biol, 1971, 57: 15–40
Bromhall C. Spider heart-rates and locomotion. J Comp Physiol B, 1987, 157: 451–460
Shultz J W. Walking and surface film locomotion in terrestrial and semi-aquatic spiders. J Exp Biol, 1987, 128: 427–444
Wang Z Y, Wang J T, Ji A H, et al. The measurement of spider’s locomotion reaction force (in Chinese). Prog Nat Sci, 2009, 19: 883–888
Ohnishi T, Asakura T. Walking behavior of spider-robot with adaptation of environment information. In: SICE 2004 Annual Conference, Sapporo: Society of instrument and control engineers, 2005, 3: 1999–2003
Gasparetto A, Vidoni R, Seidl T. Passive control of attachment in legged space robots. Appl Bionics Biomech, 2010, 7: 69–81
Zhu M S, Song D X. Taxonomic study on Selenocosmia huwena (Araneae: Theraphosidae: Ornithoctoninae) (in Chinese). J Hebei Univ (Nat Ed), 2000, 20: 53–56
Cavagna G A, Heglund N C, Taylor C R. Mechanical work in terrestrial locomotion: Two basic mechanisms for minimizing energy expenditure. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 1977, 233: R243–261
Takanobu H, Motegi S, Sanada K, et al. Spider based octopod. Nippon Robotto Gakkai Gakujutsu Koenkai Yokoshu, 2004, 22: 1F21
Reinhardt L, Weihmann T, Blickhan R. Dynamics and kinematics of ant locomotion: Do wood ants climb on level surfaces? J Exp Biol, 2009, 212: 2426–2435
Ting L H, Blickhan R, Full R J. Dynamic and static stability in hexapedal runners. J Exp Biol, 1994, 197: 251–269
Ji A H, Yan H B, Shen H, et al. Three-dimensional contact force measuring during erthesina fullo locomoting on positive/zero surface (in Chinese). J Nanjing Univer Aeron Astron, 2007, 39: 80–83
Xu X Y, Yang G Z, Ding G Q. Research on miniature hexapod bio-robot and its tripod gait (in Chinese). Opt Precision Engineer, 2002, 10: 392–396
Wang Z, Zeng B P, Wang W B, et al. Study on the biological characteristics of Ornithoctonus Huwena (in Chinese). J Beihua Univer (Nat Sci), 2002, 3: 298–299
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Rights and permissions
This article is published under an open access license. Please check the 'Copyright Information' section either on this page or in the PDF for details of this license and what re-use is permitted. If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and re-use information, please contact the Rights and Permissions team.
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, Z., Wang, J., Ji, A. et al. Movement behavior of a spider on a horizontal surface. Chin. Sci. Bull. 56, 2748–2757 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-011-4584-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-011-4584-y