ドッグスポーツ・アジリティにおけるロコモーション

Comparative Biomechanics of Canine Agility

アジリティはイヌの障害物競争とも呼ばれ，イヌが障害物をクリアする正確さと速さを競うスポーツである。競技会では，障害物は競技リングの中に複雑に置かれるため，イヌは大小さまざまなターンを繰り返し行う。本論では，アジリティに関する現在までの研究動向と筆者らの研究成果を紹介することで，アジリティに関する研究が四足動物に共通するロコモーションにおける動きの特徴の解明にどのように貢献するのかを明らかにする。

Abstract

Agility is a sport in which dogs compete on an obstacle course for both accuracy and time. Dogs that participate in competitions must negotiate a complex course of approximately 20 obstacles. We describe a literature review of the biomechanics of canine agility and our preliminary results. The number of articles that have reported biomechanics of canine agility has gradually increased since 2010. Most previous studies have focused on the bar jump, which is a basic obstacle to agility. In our preliminary study, we investigated the roll motion of the head and trunk using inertial sensors for Border Collies that completed weave poles (obstacles in which dogs weave through approximately 10 poles placed 0.6 m apart in a straight line). The roll angles of the head and trunk were measured based on the angular velocity and linear acceleration data using a sensor fusion algorithm. The head and trunk rotated about the roll axis nearly in unison. The roll amplitude of the head was lower than that of the trunk. We discuss the importance of biomechanical studies on canine agility to gain a deeper understanding of mammalian quadrupedal locomotion.