Models
The original model for passive dynamics is based on human and animal leg motions. Completely actuated systems, such as the legs of the Honda Asimo robot, are not very efficient because each joint has a motor and control assembly. Human-like gaits are far more efficient because movement is sustained by the natural swing of the legs instead of motors placed at each joint.
Tad McGeer's 1990 paper "Passive Walking with Knees" provides an excellent overview on the advantages of knees for walking legs. He clearly demonstrates that knees have many practical advantages for walking systems. Knees, according to McGeer, solve the problem of feet colliding with the ground when the leg swings forward, and also offers more stability in some settings.
Passive dynamics is a valuable addition to the field of controls because it approaches the control of a system as a combination of mechanical and electrical elements. While control methods have always been based on the mechanical actions (physics) of a system, passive dynamics utilizes the discovery of morphological computation. Morphological computation is the ability of the mechanical system to accomplish control functions.
Read more about this topic: Passive Dynamics
Famous quotes containing the word models:
“French rhetorical models are too narrow for the English tradition. Most pernicious of French imports is the notion that there is no person behind a text. Is there anything more affected, aggressive, and relentlessly concrete than a Parisan intellectual behind his/her turgid text? The Parisian is a provincial when he pretends to speak for the universe.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“The parents who wish to lead a quiet life I would say: Tell your children that they are very naughty—much naughtier than most children; point to the young people of some acquaintances as models of perfection, and impress your own children with a deep sense of their own inferiority. You carry so many more guns than they do that they cannot fight you. This is called moral influence and it will enable you to bounce them as much as you please.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“Grandparents can be role models about areas that may not be significant to young children directly but that can teach them about patience and courage when we are ill, or handicapped by problems of aging. Our attitudes toward retirement, marriage, recreation, even our feelings about death and dying may make much more of an impression than we realize.”
—Eda Le Shan (20th century)