Researchers have found that running cockroaches start to recover from being shoved sideways before their dawdling nervous system kicks in to tell their legs what to do.
These new insights on how biological systems stabilize could one day help engineers design steadier robots and improve doctors’ understanding of human gait abnormalities.
In experiments, the roaches were able to maintain their footing mechanically using their momentum and the spring-like architecture of their legs, rather than neurologically, relying on impulses sent from their central nervous system to their muscles.
See it more
