Feet Part 2: Smoothing Gaits with Shaped Feet

I've been thinking about creating an EV3 Strider, but to handle the increased weight and width Strider needs to be improved in a few ways, like by increasing the amount of foot-contact it has with the ground.

One way to increase foot-contact is to add four more legs. To check how this would smooth the gait I simulated one side of a 12-legged Strider, and if you watch the video below you'll see Strider bounce whenever the feet touching the ground switch. This bouncing shouldn't be much of a problem at LEGO scale, but it would be at large scale.
 
While a scaled-up Strider's linkage could be optimized for a smoother gait, it can also be smoothed by adding feet that are shaped to offset the gait's bumpiness. As an example, in the second half of the video I added small triangular feet to the front legs, which act like heels and toes. These feet reduce the gait's bumpiness by about 1/3rd.  However, the toes are more likely to catch on obstacles, which can cause the linkage to lock and gears to grind.  

Below is a simulation of Strider's linkage with a longer leg-base, which also bounces a little when the feet touching the ground switch.  As you can see, adding toes smooths the gait.

Strider Linkage with a Longer Leg-Base

Strider's Gait Smoothed with Toes

Below is a high-step version of Strider which can also be smoothed by adding toes:

High-Step Strider with Toes

Feet with curved bottoms that are shaped to offset the bumpiness of a particular linkage should be even more effective at smoothing gaits - at least when walking on smooth ground.
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​UPDATE:  I tested a 12-legged EV3 Strider Ver 2 using LEGO but it was too wide and didn't steer that well.  It could be made much narrower with 3D printed leg parts, which is probably how a 12-legged Strider should be built.  If you decide to give this a go, make sure your leg joints are designed to be sturdier than my LEGO Strider's joints so they can better handle  sideways forces during turns.