It has been shown that EMGs during postural responses in cats can be described by a feedback controller on center of mass (COM) kinematics (Lockhart 2005 SfN Abstract). We also know empirically that mechanical stability due to increasing the base of support (BOS) influences neural control demands. Using a robotic model of a cat to explore the relationship between feedback control gain, neural delay, and mechanical stability we demonstrate quantitative tradeoffs between mechanical and neural stabilization. We hypothesize that neural control gains must be increased to maintain stability under perturbation when the BOS is reduced. Our robot is a two-legged device with one degree of freedom per leg. It simulates the lateral motion of a cat through abduction/adduction of the hip/shoulder combination. Muscle activation is controlled using delayed (30 ms) and non-delayed feedback on joint kinematics to create neural and passive feedback loops. The advantage of the robot is that the mechanics of the system are mor...