Andrew J. Spence
Papers
5
Total Citations
532
H-Index
4
About
Andrew J. Spence is a leading researcher in comparative biomechanics and legged locomotion, whose work bridges biology and robotics to uncover how animals move and adapt to complex environments. His major contributions center on understanding gait control and stability, with a particular focus on how animals like dogs, mice, and rodents select and modulate their movement patterns on rough or uneven terrain. In a landmark 2017 study, Spence demonstrated that domestic dogs spend more time in longitudinally quasi-stable gaits when navigating rough ground, providing key insights into the biomechanics of perturbation recovery. His 2018 work on mice revealed that these animals adapt their gait along a continuum between trot and bound in response to substrate disturbances, uncovering the structure of the mammalian gait controller. Spence’s most impactful contribution, however, comes from his 2020 paper on spine-inspired soft robots, which has garnered 479 citations. By leveraging elastic instabilities, he established a new design paradigm for high-speed, high-force soft robots capable of carrying loads up to 11.4 kg, with broad applications across scales and actuation methods. His work not only advances fundamental biological understanding but also inspires next-generation robotic systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 53D modeling of running rodents based on direct linear transform3 citations · 2017