The path was recreated by the biologist John Nyakatura and his fellow scientists
Scientists believe that the creature is a “stem amniote”, which was lived before dinosaurs. It was an early land living creature which was evolved into modern mammals, birds, and other reptiles.
The fossil, called “Orabatespabsti”
As per Nyakatura’s statement, the fossil of 290-million-year-old four-legged plant eater creature is “beautifully preserved and articulated skeleton.
How the “stem amniote” moved?
Nyakaturawith robotics expert KamiloMeloworked together to find how the creature moved. They have published the result in Nature journal.
Nyakaturasaid, “We carefully modeled each and every bone and then tested the motion in various ways that would lead its gait to match the ancient tracks, ruling out combinations that were not anatomically possible.”
The life-like replica with 3D printed parts and motors
They call the model as “OroBOT’, which is made from 3D-printed plastic and steel parts. They are connected with motors for movements.
The model “helps us to test real-world dynamics, to account for gravity and friction,” said Melo. Moreover, the team compared their models with living animals like salamanders and iganas.
According to Melo’s statements, the robot walked with a fairly upright posture and didn’t drag its belly or tail.
Based on the robot model and end results, the scientists said that the creature had more advanced locomotion than previously thought for such an early land animal.
“A confident window in to past”, said Paleontologist Sumida
Sumida, a paleontologist was a part of initial team and was not involved in the robot project, said the results are “a much more confident window in to what happened long ago. It isn’t a time machine, but Nyakatura and colleagues have given us a tantalizing peek.”
