CAREER: The Multi-functional Foot and its Role in Locomotor Control Across a Range of Complex Media

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Nature is filled with surfaces that deform and flow in unexpected ways upon impact. How an animal interacts with these surfaces during locomotion can be critical to its survival. Research by the PI over the last decade reveals that the feet of running lizards are surprisingly multi-functional and that the relationship between foot-surface dynamics and the control of movement are more complicated than currently appreciated. This award will support studies to explore how kinematics and passive properties of the feet affect interactions with the ground when running across a range of materials. The research will generate fundamental knowledge about the role of active and passive control mechanisms in tuning foot-substrate interactions on complex media. The outcome of the studies will impact the way researchers view the role of the feet during legged locomotion. This research provides an excellent starting-point from which to engage children and the public in complex concepts that integrate biology, physics, and materials sciences. The educational objective of this award is to increase engagement of middle school students in science through the development and dissemination of research-driven curricula based on results from the proposed research studies, and by training current and future science teachers in inquiry-based pedagogical techniques. Finally, the research findings from these studies will have impacts reaching beyond biology, including the design and actuation of mobile robotics and robust prosthetic design.The research objective of this award is to determine how foot morphology and impact kinematics affect foot-ground interactions. Specifically, the studies will: (1) characterize the kinematic patterns associated with running across different surface types; (2) quantify the patterns of foot-ground interactions in complex media; and (3) determine how changes in foot flexibility, geometry, and kinematics affect foot-ground interactions. By using a combination of biological and physical experimental techniques, the results from these studies will address general principles of foot intrusion dynamics that are broadly applicable across diverse taxa. Consequently, our findings will stimulate research that explores the evolutionary basis of foot morphology conservation and diversification, and the dynamics of foot-surface interactions, linking biology with materials science. A range of experimental approaches, including X-Ray PIV, physical and mathematical modeling, and high-speed videography will be employed over the course of the studies. Results from the research will be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals and through presentations at scientific meetings.