Modeling, simulation, analysis and synthesis
of human gait on inclined slopes
Modeling, simulation, analysis and synthesis
of human gait on inclined slopes
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Human gait on inclined slopes: Use of gait cyclograms
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This work was done with Emmanuel Cordier from INRIA,
Grenoble, France.
Slope-walking is an important topic and is currently actively
studied within the biomechanics community. Inclined surfaces
are frequently encountered in everyday life but their
effect on the gait is under-studied. Descending slopes, in
particular, are often responsible for fall-related accidents
in the elderly and thus deserve attention. Gravity is known
to have a profound effect on the mechanism of locomotion
and our study is aimed at understanding the manner
in which the ground slope modifies the influence of
gravity on the human body.
Our other motivation behind this research program stems
from our challenge of formulating a control law to
enable the biped robot to walk on different inclinations.
A control law generated for a single slope does not
necessarily remain valid for other slopes. Under the
assumption that a biological system is efficient or
optimal in some sense, we intend to identify
``biologically'' motivated optimality criteria or,
at least, to mimic human locomotion with the hope
that the robot will be endowed with the same optimal
motion. It is possible that the entire dynamics of a
complicated system can be generated from a small set
of influencing parameters by means of a powerful underlying
principle (see above for an example of this in the
compass-gait robot). Identification of such a
principle will vastly simplify the control strategy.
Based on our experimental data obtained for each
1degree interval within the range of -13degree
to +13degree (+/-23.1%) on a variable-inclination
treadmill, we have introduced a new technique for the
parameterization of slope-walking gaits.
By parameterization we mean a quantitative
expression of certain gait descriptors as the function
of an external parameter, such as the ground slope.
The technique is based on cyclograms, the closed curve
obtained by simultaneously plotting two (or more)
leg joint angles during a typical gait cycle. We
demonstrate that the geometric moments of the
cyclogram contours can meaningfully reflect the evolution
of the gait kinematics on different slopes. We provide a
new interpretation of the cyclogram perimeter and
discover two potential invariants of the slope-walking gait.
A list of my papers on this topic:
- A new gait parameterization technique by means of
cyclogram moments: Application to human slope
walking
- A. Goswami
- Gait & Posture, August, 1998.
Download
figures of the above paper.
Download
slope walk data used for the figures.
Download
all the matlab codes used for cyclogram paremeterization.
Download
all the moment data derived from the cyclograms.
Download
all the matlab codes and data used for automatic cyclogram segmentation.
On this last topic also see:
- Segmentation of biomechanical signals by joint-space
distance criterion
- A. Goswami
-
17th Congress of the International Society of
Biomechanics (ISB), Calgary, Canada, August 1999
- Compass-like biped robot Part I: Stability and
bifurcation of passive gaits
- A. Goswami, B. Thuilot, and B. Espiau
- INRIA Research Report No. 2996, October 1996.
- Moment-based
parameterization of cyclograms of slope-walking
- A. Goswami and E. Cordier
- XVIth Congress of the Int. Society of Biomechanics,
Tokyo, Japan, August 1997
(finalist for the Best Young Investigator award).
- Kinematic parameterization of
natural slope walking
- E. Cordier, A. Goswami, and M. Bourlier
- 13th Int. Symp. on ``Posture and Gait'',
Paris, France, June 1997.
- Moment-based parameterization of evolving cyclograms
on gradually changing slopes
- A. Goswami and E. Cordier
- 3rd Int. Symp. on Computer Methods in Biomechanics & Biomedical Engr,
Barcelona, May, 1997.