Shift Weight Expercise: Big Dog - Part 1

i)        If engineered or programmed badly, BigDog would fall over. Watch the full video again, and describe how BigDog’s legs move while walking– ie. what is the sequence of leg movements for one complete step? Use the terms BL, BR, FL, and FR for the back-left, back-right, front-left and front-right legs.

FL and BR will move first to stop itself from falling, while FR and BL will fix at the ground waiting for it to find the center of gravity. When its falling again, FR and BL will move to balance it again. This cycle will continue till the big dog slows down it's motion and find back the center of gravity.

ii)        Explain how this sequence of movements manages to balance BigDog’s body weight.

This sequence of movements helps to slows down the momentum of falling after its being kicked. The weight is being shifted from one side to the other, so by this sequence, it helps the big dog to balance and find back the center of gravity. 

iii)        Look at BigDog_kick_slow_motion.mov. Draw a storyboard of BigDog stabilising itself after being kicked.

You should draw the key poses. You don’t need to draw well – but you must show the leg positions and the body rotations around the X, Y and Z axes for each key pose.