The Poly-PEDAL Laboratory

The Full Lab Tour

To find if animals such as insects really use springs during running we are testing the material properties of legs by oscillating them and measuring force. We run animals on miniature treadmills to measure their energetic cost of locomotion. We place the treadmill in incubators like you see in the cornor because these animals are cold-blooded and their energetics depends on air temperature. We discovered that the economy of locomotion is not dependent on leg number, leg orientation or the type of skeleton used.

Click on the left side of the picture to scan the lab.