MUD Mired in time...

This is the clockworks. Limb parts as spokes of linked wheels. What we do well - we do with this. What we do badly - we ALSO do with this.

Abnormality and normality are similarly constrained. This eccentric based clockworks is attuned to efficiency, moving flat ahead in air rather than every which way in water. By having the two hips virtually connected to the body’s center of mass (via ONE pelvis + 2 hip joints) rather than the more primitive limb sling suspension from fish to this... we have a more energy efficient and easily adapting mechanism of travel that can boost output - at will - when needed, often maintaining efficiency by modulating one segment or another drawing on another determinant we here propose – expectation. Done this before – context relevant motor memory. Hips are not to allow walking. Many ancient beasts without hips could easily outrun us. Quadrupeds, today, only have two hips of the four legs. Articulated hips properly spaced relative to center of mass, allow an insane degree of energy conservation by juggling the periods of several pendulums passing energy between them. This stuff is useless in the absence of intact sensory mechanisms attuned to inertial and acceleration events. Add a machine to our legs and we find similar considerations: Adjust the foot levers badly and the the man pumping the machine will expire before the job is done.

Walking is not the only user of eccentric motion tricks. Apprentice driven machines require it. Interesting adjustment rules basically come down to avoiding epicycles which divert energy from the energy minimized desired task. So too in bicycle foot driven linkages.