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Locomotor kinematics of the gecko (Tokay gecko) upon challenge with various inclines

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  • Bionic Engineering
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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Tokay geckos are skillful climbers and are able to negotiate difficult terrain such as steep slopes and overhanging inclines without losing their foothold. Here, we present data on the changes in locomotor kinematics when geckos are challenged to walk on various inclined surfaces. We trained individual geckos to move along a platform which can be tilted to simulate different slopes. The animals were filmed using a high-speed video camera. The results showed that their speed decreased with increasing slope angle, and their speed on the steep and inverted slopes (sloped angle >60°) decreased at a faster rate than on the shallow slopes (sloped angle <60°). The geckos’ stride length was much greater on the shallow slopes compared to the inverted slopes. The influence of stride length and stride frequency on speed was different when the geckos moved across different slopes. There are significant differences duty factor, which varied from 0.54 when wall climbing (90° slope) to 0.84 when walking on the ceiling (180° slope). The mechanisms revealed this study will improve our understanding of control strategies in kinematics and inspire the design of robots with greater mobility.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61175105 and 61161120323), the Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China (20123218110031), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (CXZZ11_0198 and BCXJ10_10).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Bio-inspired Structure and Surface Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China

    Zhou-Yi Wang, Ai-Hong Ji, Wei Li & Zhen-Dong Dai

  2. Centre for Cell Engineering, Joseph Black Building, Glasgow University, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK

    Thomas Endlein & Diana Samuel

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  1. Zhou-Yi Wang
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  2. Ai-Hong Ji
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  3. Thomas Endlein
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  4. Wei Li
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Correspondence to Zhen-Dong Dai.

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Wang, ZY., Ji, AH., Endlein, T. et al. Locomotor kinematics of the gecko (Tokay gecko) upon challenge with various inclines. Chin. Sci. Bull. 59, 4568–4577 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0557-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0557-2

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