Do real cheetahs use their tails like cheetah-inspired robots? Assessing the contribution of the tail to pitch stability in decelerating cheetahs.

The cheetah’s tail is thought to support its impressive maneuverability by assisting with balance, thereby increasing the acceleration the animal can achieve without destabilizing its body. While cheetah-inspired tails have been shown to increase the maneuverability of mobile robots in this way, the function of the tail has yet to be confirmed in the cheetah itself. In this talk, we will evaluate whether the cheetah’s tail contributes to straight-line deceleration by moderating body pitch, based on trajectory optimization experiments and motion capture data from captive animals.

Dr. Amir Patel