Muscle roles on directional change during hopping of a biomimetic feline hindlimb

Abstract

Cats, from tiny domestic cats (Felix Catus) to big tigers (Panthera Tigris), are well known for their great acrobatic skills and hunting ability. Aiming to better understand how the feline family interacts with the environment, we adopt a biomimetic approach on a hopping feline hindlimb. Using air muscles to simulate the compliance of biological muscles, this robotic hindlimb has seven muscles and changes hopping direction. We individually evaluate and estimate muscles contribution to the jumping direction. Finally, we successfully control the hopping direction using a non-linear curve fitting from experimental results, hopefully contributing to the understanding of our biological counterpart.