Spatio-temporal problems of locomotion control

Viewed in cybernetics terms, constructing human and animal movements is 'overcoming superfluous degrees of freedom of an impellent body' according to N A Bernstaine. The problem of the spatio-temporal construction of legged movements involves structural motion freedoms due to the multi-link structure of the extremities, kinematical freedoms of the stepping cycle, and inter-extremity coordination freedoms, which are organized (to serve a prescribed purpose) by means of appropriate synergies - i.e, additional functional links the brain's control system forms. The main focus of attention in this work is on the kinematical and coordination synergies of the legged movements of humans and animals. The comparative historical analysis of experimental data and modelling metaphors concentrates on obtaining a unified description, whereas the ultimate mathematical metaphor reduces to space-time geometry, with base step synergies as invariants. Thus, Berstainian's overcoming concept is transformed to an analogue of the Kleinian geochronometry concept, actually a modification of Minkowskian geometry. To determine the spectrum of possible geochronometries, the consequences of a generalized 'postulate of a constant speed of light' are studied and different models of wave chronometers compared.