How will we walk?

Darren Brown wrote:

>The mechanics of the simple act of walking is basically a pendulum,
>our gait is dictated by the speed our centre of gravity swings back
>and forth. We are a kind of pendulum but if you put the pendulum
>into a lower gravity, you are going to have a slower swing. Without
>the encumbrance of a pressure suit, you are going to try to walk
>normally, on Mars, Luna or anywhere the apparent gravity is lower
>than a full Earth gravity, you are going to either walk very slow or
>use a different gait.
>
The Lunar Base Design Workshop held at ESTEC in 2002 came up with one
solution: rather than a flat floor surface, use a wavey or ridged floor;
the walking gait would then involve pushing back horizontally, as well
as down vertically - it would be more like a runner's gait (bent
forward) than normal upright Earth walking, but should work for just
about any walking (or running) speed you want. I'm not sure if that had
been invented elsewhere before - the results of that workshop were the
first I'd heard of it anyway.

Arthur