Researchers at The University of Manchester are using computer simulations of chimpanzees to improve not only our understanding of how the animals walk, but also the technology we use to do it.

The research, being published by the Royal Society Open Science Journal, shows how simple changes to ‘machine learning’ algorithms can produce better looking, more accurate computer-generated animal simulations.

It will also help researchers investigate the ‘curious way’ that all primates walk and how this might be linked to stability whilst moving through the trees.

Professor Bill Sellers, from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, says: ‘Starting from an animal's skeleton, computers using machine learning can now reconstruct how the animal could have moved. However, they don't always do a good job.

‘But with some simple changes to the machine learning goals we can now create much more accurate simulations. We've now used this process to generate chimpanzee locomotion to explore why they walk the way they do.

‘The idea was to look at how much energy it costs to walk in a stable fashion compared to other movement patterns.’