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Human gaits can vary a great deal. This animation shows the two most common human gaits, walking and running. Movement of the center of body mass (superimposed) is shown in simplified versions of the two gaits. Cornell's Manoj Srinivasan and Andy Ruina used computer simulations to compare movement of the center of body mass in multiple other strange gaits with that of the human walk and run. They found walking to be the most energy efficient at low speeds and running the most efficient at high speeds. Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation Back to article

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Human gaits can vary a great deal. This animation shows the two most common human gaits, walking and running. Movement of the center of body mass (superimposed) is shown in simplified versions of the two gaits. Cornell's Manoj Srinivasan and Andy Ruina used computer simulations to compare movement of the center of body mass in multiple other strange gaits with that of the human walk and run. They found walking to be the most energy efficient at low speeds and running the most efficient at high speeds.

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