GC-MS Analysis and Antimicrobial Activities of the Non-polar Extracts of Mundulea sericea

The composition of the non-polar extracts of the leaves, stem bark and twigs of Mundulea sericea (Fabaceae) were analyzed using GC-MS. Eight, five and eleven components were identified from the leaves, twigs and stem bark extract, respectively. The major components were identified as: caryophyllene (43.6 %) and cadina-3,9-diene (29.7 %) in the leaf extract, amorphene (34.4 %) and valencene (17.9 %) in the stem bark extract and isoledene (29.0 %) and α-gurjunene (22.4 %) from the twig extract. Sesquiterpenes were the major abundant components in the non-polar extracts. The leaf, stem bark and twig extracts showed weak antibacterial and antifungal activities.Keywords: Mundulea sericea, GC-MS, non-polar, sesquiterpenes, antimicrobia

Multi-modal Locomotion Robot

A variety of animals such as primates, dogs, and bears switch modes of locomotion between quadrupedalism and bipedalism to better complete certain tasks. However, very few robotic platforms can effectively combine the two forms of locomotion. A multi-modal robotic platform with such capabilities would provide additional adaptability in unstructured environments, broadening its potential applications. Therefore, we extended an existing quadrupedal platform with the capability to transition into a bipedal stance. In this project, we built a physical robot, developed an accompanying software stack with a reinforcement learning pipeline, implemented quadrupedal locomotion, and achieved stance transition in simulation. Our integrated hardware and software platform affords future roboticists the opportunity to test and develop more adaptable locomotion strategies and increase the functionality of robots more broadly