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Comparative muscle anatomy of the anuran pelvis and hindlimb in relation to locomotor mode (2024)
Journal Article
Leavey, A., Richards, C., & Porro, L. (2024). Comparative muscle anatomy of the anuran pelvis and hindlimb in relation to locomotor mode. Journal of Anatomy, https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.14122

Frogs have a highly conserved body plan, yet they employ a diverse array of locomotor modes, making them ideal organisms for investigating the relationships between morphology and locomotor function, in particular whether anatomical complexity is a p... Read More about Comparative muscle anatomy of the anuran pelvis and hindlimb in relation to locomotor mode.

Locomotor, ecological and phylogenetic drivers of skeletal proportions in frogs (2023)
Journal Article
Leavey, A., Ruta, M., Richards, C., & Porro, L. (2023). Locomotor, ecological and phylogenetic drivers of skeletal proportions in frogs. Journal of Anatomy, https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.13886

Frogs exhibit complex anatomical features of the pelvis, limbs and spine, long assumed to represent specialisations for jumping. Yet frogs employ a wide range of locomotor modes, with several taxa featuring primary locomotor modes other than jumping.... Read More about Locomotor, ecological and phylogenetic drivers of skeletal proportions in frogs.

The impact of age-related increase in passive muscle stiffness on simulated upper limb reaching (2023)
Journal Article
Murtola, T., & Richards, C. (2023). The impact of age-related increase in passive muscle stiffness on simulated upper limb reaching. Royal Society Open Science, 10, Article 221453. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221453

Ageing changes the musculoskeletal and neural systems, potentially affecting a person's ability to perform daily living activities. One of these changes is increased passive stiffness of muscles, but its contribution to performance is difficult to se... Read More about The impact of age-related increase in passive muscle stiffness on simulated upper limb reaching.

In vitro-virtual-reality: an anatomically explicit musculoskeletal simulation powered by in vitro muscle using closed loop tissue-software interaction (2020)
Journal Article
Richards, C. T., & Eberhard, E. A. (2020). In vitro-virtual-reality: an anatomically explicit musculoskeletal simulation powered by in vitro muscle using closed loop tissue-software interaction. Journal of Experimental Biology, https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.210054

Muscle force-length dynamics are governed by intrinsic contractile properties, motor stimulation and mechanical load. Although intrinsic properties are well-characterised, physiologists lack in vitro instrumentation accounting for combined effects of... Read More about In vitro-virtual-reality: an anatomically explicit musculoskeletal simulation powered by in vitro muscle using closed loop tissue-software interaction.

Digital dissection of the pelvis and hindlimb of the red-legged running frog, Phlyctimantis maculatus, using Diffusible Iodine Contrast Enhanced computed microtomography (DICE µCT) (2019)
Journal Article
Collings, A. J., & Richards, C. T. (2019). Digital dissection of the pelvis and hindlimb of the red-legged running frog, Phlyctimantis maculatus, using Diffusible Iodine Contrast Enhanced computed microtomography (DICE µCT). PeerJ, 7, e7003. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7003

The current study applies both traditional and Diffusible Iodine Contrast Enhanced computed microtomography (DICE µCT) techniques to reveal the musculoskeletal anatomy of Phlyctimantis maculatus. DICE µCT has emerged as a powerful tool to visualise i... Read More about Digital dissection of the pelvis and hindlimb of the red-legged running frog, Phlyctimantis maculatus, using Diffusible Iodine Contrast Enhanced computed microtomography (DICE µCT).

The impact of pelvic lateral rotation on hindlimb kinematics and stride length in the red-legged running frog, Kassina maculata (2019)
Journal Article
Collings, A. J., Porro, L. B., Hill, C., & Richards, C. T. (2019). The impact of pelvic lateral rotation on hindlimb kinematics and stride length in the red-legged running frog, Kassina maculata. Royal Society Open Science, 6, 190060. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.190060

Some frog species, such as Kassina maculata (red-legged running frog), use an asynchronous walking/running gait as their primary locomotor mode. Prior comparative anatomy work has suggested that lateral rotation of the pelvis improves walking perform... Read More about The impact of pelvic lateral rotation on hindlimb kinematics and stride length in the red-legged running frog, Kassina maculata.

Simulation of muscle-powered jumping with hardware-in-the-loop ground interaction (2018)
Journal Article
Eberhard, E. A., & Richards, C. T. (2018). Simulation of muscle-powered jumping with hardware-in-the-loop ground interaction. https://doi.org/10.1109/AIM.2018.8452298

We developed a novel reverse haptic interface to augment forward dynamic simulations with real-world contact forces. In contrast with traditional haptics, in which a realworld user drives an interaction with a simulated environment, reverse haptics a... Read More about Simulation of muscle-powered jumping with hardware-in-the-loop ground interaction.

The dynamic role of the ilio-sacral joint in jumping frogs (2018)
Journal Article
Richards, C. T., Eberhard, E. A., & Collings, A. J. (2018). The dynamic role of the ilio-sacral joint in jumping frogs. Biology Letters, 14(9), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0367

A striking feature among jumping frogs is a sharp pelvic bend about the ilio-sacral (IS) joint, unique to anurans. Although this sagittal plane hinge has been interpreted as crucial for the evolution of jumping, its mechanical contribution has not be... Read More about The dynamic role of the ilio-sacral joint in jumping frogs.

A novel kinematics analysis method using quaternion interpolation – a case study in frog jumping (2018)
Journal Article
Richards, C. T., & Porro, L. B. (2018). A novel kinematics analysis method using quaternion interpolation – a case study in frog jumping. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 454, 410-424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2018.06.010

Spherical Linear Interpolation (SLERP) has long been used in computer animation to interpolate movements between two 3D orientations. We developed a forward kinematics (FK) approach using quaternions and SLERP to predict how frogs modulate jump kinem... Read More about A novel kinematics analysis method using quaternion interpolation – a case study in frog jumping.

Kinematic control of extreme jump angles in the red leg running frog (Kassina maculata) (2017)
Journal Article
Richards, C. T., Porro, L. B., & Collings, A. J. (2017). Kinematic control of extreme jump angles in the red leg running frog (Kassina maculata). Journal of Experimental Biology, 220, 1894-1904. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.144279

The kinematic flexibility of frog hindlimbs enables multiple locomotor modes within a single species. Prior work has extensively explored maximum performance capacity in frogs; however, the mechanisms by which anurans modulate performance within loco... Read More about Kinematic control of extreme jump angles in the red leg running frog (Kassina maculata).