Work

Multidimensional performance trade-offs in bipedal standing of common chimpanzees and implications for human bipedal evolution

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Bipedalism is a hallmark of human evolution, and investigating performance trade-offs in common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), our closest living relative, elucidates evolutionary constraints of our own lineage. Through musculoskeletal modeling and robotics-inspired analysis, we respectively simulated thousands of bipedal postures optimized for whole-body stability, head-top flexibility, head-top robustness, and femoral-head vertical support. Optimal joint configurations for each metric revealed insights into chimpanzees' postural strategies during foraging, vigilance, and arboreal navigation. Moderate hip and knee flexion with slight ankle dorsiflexion yielded the most stable postures but compromised head mobility and vertical support. These trade-offs explain chimpanzees' limited bipedal capabilities and short bout durations observed in the wild. Our findings illuminate biomechanical challenges shaping hominin bipedal evolution, provide insight into early hominin postural strategies, and offer implications for developing more efficient humanoids and biomimetic robots.

Source: iScience

DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.114055

Authors: Xiao-Wei Xv, Lei He, Cai-Hua Xiong, Wen-Bin Chen, Chang He

Institution: Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Language: English

Topic: Robotic Locomotion and Control

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,240

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China