Tracking the Cheetah Tail Using Animal-Borne Cameras, GPS, and an IMU

Abstract

The cheetah (Acinonyx Jubatus) is the fastest terrestrial animal and is also highly maneuverable. An investigation into the whole-body motion dynamics of this specialized predator will illuminate various factors that influence and affect performance in legged animals as well as provide insight for the design of future bio-inspired robots. Presently, animal sensor collars can capture the gross animal behavior successfully but do not provide information about the animal's complete motion. Here, in an effort towards whole-body motion estimation, we demonstrate the use of animal mounted cameras, as well as the sensor suite of a smartphone that are attached to captive cheetahs during maneuvers. The various sensors are fused by an Extended Kalman Smoother (EKS) to provide high-bandwidth state estimates of the position, velocity, and acceleration of the cheetah spine and tail.