Interdisciplinary approach to bio-inspired design, with emphasis on principle extraction applicable to various robotics research fields, such as robotics, prosthetics, and human assistive technologies. Focuses on three main components: biomechanics, numerical techniques that allow multi-body dynamics simulation with environmental interaction and optimization, and basic robotics techniques and implementation skills. Students integrate the components into a final robotic system project of their choosing through which they must demonstrate their understanding of dynamics and control and test hypothesized design principles.