Because animal locomotion is a very interesting interplay between the body, the spinal cord and the environment.

因為動物的動作是源自牠的身體、脊髓和環境的一種非常微妙的交互作用

But to understand this interaction, we really need a body and that's where the robot is a key tool.

但是要了解這個交互作用，我們實在需要一個以機器人為主要核心的形體

So we designed a salamander robot that very closely mimics the real motion of the real salamander,

所以我們設計了一個火蜥蜴機器人非常精確地模仿真正火蜥蜴的動作

and it can both walk and swim exactly like the real salamander.

它可以和真正的火蜥蜴一樣走路和游泳

It's a very old animal, it's an amphibian and it's almost a living fossil of the first terrestrial vertebrates,

它是一種非常古老的動物，它是兩棲類而且可以說是地球上第一代脊椎動物的活化石

so the ancestor of vertebrates like us, mammals.

所以它是脊椎動物的始祖，例如我們哺乳類

So by studying the salamander we can study this key moment in evolution, the switch from swimming to walking,

所以藉由研究火蜥蜴我們可以了解由水生到陸生這個演化上的轉變

and especially how the spinal cord has reorganized itself to allow a new mode of locomotion.

尤其是脊髓如何認知一種新型態的動作

So the novelty of this work is really the approach we took to try to be as close as possible to the real physics of the body.

這個研究的創新性是我們採用的兩個方法試著盡量逼近真實形體的物理特性

The species is called Pleurodeles. We looked at detailed x-ray recordings from the animals

這個物種叫做蠑螈。我們觀察這個動作詳細的 x 光錄影

so we could track the bones in 3D space and

如此我們可以在 3 度空間中追蹤它的骨骼

that enabled us to create a very detailed model of the movements of the bones of the animal.

這讓我們可以為這種動物建立一個骨骼位移的詳細模型

Neurobiologists have shown that if you electrically stimulate the spinal cord,

神經生物學家曾經證明如果以電流刺激脊髓

at low level of stimulation, it will induce a walking like gait.

若在比較低的刺激下，它會造成陸上的行走模式

If you stimulate a bit more, this gate accelerates, and at some point there's a threshold and it switches to swimming

如果刺激再增強一點，這個動作會加速，並在某個點存在一個閥值，超過這個閥值它會切換成游泳的動作

so just changing the global drive that the brain sends to the spinal cord makes a complete switch between different modes of the locomotion.

所以僅僅改變大腦到脊髓的驅動因子就可以在不同的動作模式之間完全切換

So understanding this is very important, for instance, for neuroprosthetics.

認知到這個事實非常重要，例如，對於神經義肢而言

Being able to re-stimulate those circuits in humans in the long term is something very important

在長期使用下能夠重新刺激那些人體內的電路某種程度上非常重要

and for that you need to understand how the spinal cord works.

而要達成這個目的你必須了解脊髓是怎麼運作的