Alhamdulillah, we are blessed with another chance to meet Ramadhan this year.. Whether or not we'll be breathing and healthy to meet Syawal, Wallah hu a'lam.. So, while we are still here, on the earth, lets grab this opportunity to make this Ramadhan as the best, InsyaAllah..
If I remember correctly, I have never really talked bout what am I doing actually for my master's research project. Kan? Ke ada eh? Perasan macam tak ada.. Hihihi..
Anyway, I'm going to describe in brief of what I did. My thesis title is 'Locomotion Gait Pattern Development for Quadruped Walking Robot'... Title nak gempak je kan.. Padahal simple je.. Hihi.. To explain the title in simple words, actually, I'm developing the control algorithm to make the quadruped robot (quadruped = 4-legged) walks.. Ha..,simple je kan?
The keyword there is Gait, and quadruped. Gait is actually a pattern of how the legs are coordinated. For instance, walking, then we have certain pattern of moving the legs to make us walk. Then jumping, ada different of leg coordination plak to make us jump. Basically that's the idea. In my case, I'm doing the gait development for 4-legged robot.
U know what, doing this research made me feel so amazed with Allah's Wisdom. It's not that easy to control legs mann.. Looks like simple, but actually, nope, it is not! Believe me..
Do u guys noticed that while walking, we don't even have to think, which leg we want to lift first *unless you are marching lah..kena make sure sama dengan org lain..hehe*, and how high do we need to lift our leg, the timing, the stability, everything! No right? We just walk! And when we think we need to run, we just run! To be frank people, to control even 2 legs, without additional load *for instance,carrying some stuff with our hands* is such a tedious work! But Allah has created us with such a complex control system that we don't have to think about it.. Subhanallah..
The secret of being able to do that is called the Central Pattern Generator (CPG). CPG consists of sets of neural cells that are found located in our spine *for most vertebrates* and this CPG is actually responsible in generating the rhythmic pattern *same movement that are repeated over and over like walking* without even have to bother the brain to do that. Otherwise interrupted, then only the brain will make a command whether to stop or change the pattern etc.
For instance, we need to go to kedai to buy things, and we need to walk, so brain sends command, 'CPG,generate walking pattern', so CPG produce the pattern and muscles follow,and we walk.. Tengah jalan, suddenly kereta gila lalu and almost hit us, then brain quickly sends new comman,'CPG, terminate walking pattern! Stop!'. Then we'll stop.. Cursing a few lines to that crazy driver *ini bukan under jobscope CPG..Sila tahu! ;p*, then we need to walk again, so brain hanta command to walk again. Then tah dari mana, a dog suddenly decided to be angry and chase us, so brain send new command,'CPG, generate running pattern. Fast one!'. Then we'll be running like hell..
Basically, macam tu lah.. Interesting isn't it? Subhanallah.. Such a Creator! Just imagine that you'll have to think how to walk everytime you want to walk, or run, or jump, or even breath.. Letih la kan? Mesti otak selalu hang.. So, the great Creator, Allah, dah simplified dah the task. Oleh itu, mari kita memuji Pencipta Agung itu... Subhanallah..
Thus, in my research work, I'm implementing that idea, the biological idea of CPG to develop the control algorithm for my 4-legged robot. So, itulah yg your truly dok kerjakan all these while.. Interesting, challenging and sometimes heartbreaking. But Alhamdulillah, managed to finally come out with a thesis about it. And InsyaAllah, planning to dig more on this topic for PhD.. Kalau diizinkan Tuhan lah.. We'll see how first lah..
Ok, to close the post, I embedded a youtube video of this small guy practicing his GAIT... hehehe.. enjoy!
Loads of love,
* Farah Jasni*
