Clemente
Biorobotics and biomechanics lab

We are interested in the relationship between form, function and ecology of living and extinct animals. Our project focus on the different ways that biomechanics of movement can limit the pathways available for evolution.

We have studied morphology, metabolic rates and biomechanics and compared these to ecological characteristics and locomotory ability in a large group of lizards, the varanids. Similarly, we have studied these traits in other lizard groups, including an extensive project examining the evolution of bipedalism in dragon lizards, showing lizards were essentially popping a wheelie. Other species like the Marine Iguana, only to be found on the Galapagos Islands, are subject to our studies as well. Not only lizard shaped animals draw our attention. We also study the question why invasive species in Australia are so successful compared to native species and we look at the turning ability of different animals and figure out the biomechanics laying behind that. Lastly one branch of our lab focuses on non-terrestrial species: jellyfish.

As different as these animals are, so are the methods we apply to do our research. Whether it is the use of drones to film animals from above, or the use of highspeed cameras to get a high-resolution video of the locomotory performance of the animal in 2D and 3D. Whether it is the use of physical robotic models or computational muscle-skeletal modelling. Whether it is tracing animals’ movements with accelerometers and using machine learning to predict their behaviour or tracking the movements using markerless pose-estimation based on deep learning.

All these methods help us to answer questions about the pathway and limitations of evolution, why animals move in the way they do and why they occupy the habitat they live in