| THIS IS A PRIVATE WEBSITE. All information is embargoed with immediate effect until 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Monday March 17, 2008. ACCESS IS LOGGED. IF YOU HAVE REACHED THIS WEBSITE BY ACCIDENT, PLEASE CONTACT pauline@berkeley.edu. PUBLICITY INFORMATION FOR: Ardian Jusufi, Daniel Goldman, Shai Revzen and Robert Full. (In press) 2008. Active tails enhance arboreal acrobatics in geckos. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. PNAS March 18, 2008 vol. 105 no. 11 4215–4219. Please note: The content of any press release and related material is embargoed with immediate effect until 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Monday March 17, 2008. For more information, see embargo policy for PNAS. Wire services stories must always carry the embargo time at the head of each item, and may not be sent out more than 24 hours before that time. For Questions on Embargo Policy contact: PNASnews@nas.edu or call 202-334-1310 Authors Lead author Ardian Jusufi. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley, CA 94720-3140. Phone ++1 510 684 0613 ardianj@berkeley.edu Daniel I. Goldman. School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA Phone ++404-894-0993 daniel.goldman@physics.gatech.edu Shai Revzen. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley, CA 94720-3140. Phone ++1 510 643 5183 shrevz@berkeley.edu Senior author Robert J. Full. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley, CA 94720-3140. Phone ++1 510 642 9896 (office) or ++510-332-7484 (mobile) rjfull@berkeley.edu Center for Interdisciplinary Bio-inspiration in Education and Research Visit CiBER Center for Learning from Nature High Resolution Cover & Figures (copyright PNAS/NAS 2008) from the Gecko tail paper |
 Cover (T. Libby). | Fig.1 (Jusufi & Goldman). |
Fig.2 (Jusufi). |  Fig.3 (Jusufi & Goldman). |  Fig.4 (Jennings & Jusufi). |
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Additional Images & Movies from Gecko Tail Function Project ALL GRAPHICAL MATERIAL (movies, images, diagrams) IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED WITH PERMISSION ONLY. CONTACT: Robert Full rjfull@berkeley.edu Should you experience difficulties viewing high-speed videos please try the following cross-platform media player: Click here for VLC (available as freeware) |
Emergency Fifth Leg during Rapid Climbing (Photo: A. Jusufi) Gecko running up a wall (top view) use a tap of their tail to stop from tipping back if they slip on patch (green surface). | Emergency Fifth Leg during Rapid Climbing (Photo: A. Jusufi and D. Goldman) Rapid climbing gecko running up a vertical surface with traction (a), slipping on a patch (b) and tapping their tail down to prevent overturning. |
Kick-stand Response to Prevent Falling Head over Heels  (Photo: A. Jusufi and Boston Dynamics Inc.) Geckos on larger slippery patches. Several consecutive forefoot-slips caused the geckos to place their tail in a posture similar to a bicycle's kick-stand. Biologically inspired robots RiSE in a posture similar to geckos. Watch Video: kick_small.mov | Bio-inspired Climbing Robot, RiSE, with Tail on a Tree  (Photo: Boston Dynamics Inc.) The robot, RiSE (Robot in Scansorial Environments), on a tree with passive tail preventing pitchback. Engineers suggested biologists re-examine tail function during climbing. Watch Video (sped up 5Xs) of RiSE with active tail: RiSE_transitions_up_5x_divx.avi |
Tail Induced Air-Righting  (Photo: A. Jusufi) Geckos right themselves in mid-air. Geckos fall straight down with their back to the ground (t1), tail rotation induces a counter rotation of the body (t2) and the gecko stops rotating in a gliding posture right-side-up (t3). | |
Equilibrium Gliding in the Wind Tunnel  (Photo: T. Libby) Geckos hovered in a vertically-tilted wind tunnel that simulated conditions of aerial descent. | Equilibrium Gliding in the Wind Tunnel (Photo: T. Libby) Geckos were capable of turning maneuvers by use of circular tail movements. |
 Robert Full (left) and Marc Raibert (right) at CiBER (Photo: P. Jennings). | Ardian Jusufi investigating the climbing dynamics of geckos at CiBER (Photo: V. Steger). |
Contacts for Comments on Article
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Contacts About Robot, RiSE
Aaron Saunders Boston Dynamics Inc.
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