UH professor hopes penguin research sheds light on mobility problems
These penguins march for research
UH professor hopes the secrets of waddling can help people with mobility problems
Published 6:30 am, Tuesday, January 24, 2006
In other words, the Chaplinesque waddlers are more than anthropomorphized birds in tuxedos.
"They have evolved a unique, side-to-side means of locomotion, something we can learn from. No other animal, not even other birds like the ostrich and the emu, moves this way," said Kurz, who is not an ornithologist but a professor of health and human performance at the University of Houston.
Kurz takes a professional interest in the central nervous system and its role in regulating balance and locomotion. From penguins he hopes to learn the secrets of waddling, and to apply those lessons to the elderly, disabled and others with limited mobility. Penguins, unlike humans, have incorporated a wobble — a tension between moving and falling — into their mode of locomotion.
The research may even have applications for robot design. Robots able to negotiate medial-lateral or side-to-side motion are expensive to construct. Most robots that mimic the human stride require costly, cumbersome computers to keep them from tipping over.
To quantify the penguins' waddle, Kurz and his colleagues have built a 15-foot runway at Moody Gardens in Galveston, and equipped it with a pressure mat. As the penguins traverse the platform, the mat digitally measures and records the width and length of their steps.
"They are easy subjects, very cooperative. They seem to enjoy being studied," Kurz said.
Moody Gardens is home to 93 penguins belonging to four species. Kurz chose to work with the King penguins, the largest species at the facility. They are second in size only to the emperor penguin, averaging about 36 pounds and about three feet tall.
"All of the King penguins were brought in as eggs and hatched here. They consider themselves little people and consider us big penguins. There's no fear on their part. By far, they are the most visited exhibit we have here," said Greg Whittaker, animal husbandry manager at Moody Gardens.
Kurz, who expects the penguin study to continue for several years, foresees a time when seniors may be able to leave canes or walkers behind and adjust their walking patterns based on his research. Falls are the major cause of injury-related visits to emergency rooms in the United States, and the main cause of accidental deaths in people 65 and older.
Penguins' waddling evolved to survive the harsh conditions of Antarctica and to enable them to excel as swimmers and hunters, Whittaker said. Their bodies are compact and streamlined, with few extremities and a minimum of exposed flesh. A more humanlike gait would have made survival difficult.
"These guys are so cute, and that's what attracts us to them," Whittaker said. "But they're also very sophisticated animals, perfectly adapted to their environment."
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