Traditional stilts as an alternating incomplete inverted pendulum controlled by hand and a physical pendulum pivoting at the hand

Abstract

Traditional stilts have been known in many countries in Asia and Africa and are generally used as toys. The design is very simple, but their use is very difficult. Performers have to train intensively to control their stability so they can walk using them. An interesting challenge is what kind of physical formulation controls the stability of traditional stilts. In this paper, we report a simple physical formulation to explain the mechanics of traditional stilts. The traditional stilts can be considered as an alternating inverted pendulum stabilized by hand and a physical pendulum pivoting at the hand. Experiments were also carried out using a stilt made of bamboo rods. We identified a number of parameters that control the stability of the stilts. This type of research can become a topic for research-based learning at universities.

The stable and unstable oscillations of a rod attached to many springs

“…One of our goals in this paper is to demonstrate that many existing societal practices may contain challenging scientific aspects [12][13][14][15][16][17]. Indeed, there are several practices from ancient societies that have found applications in modern technology after extensive research.…”