Effect of Trunk Swinging Behaviors on Planar Bipedal Walking with an Upper Body on Gentle Slope

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 686-696
Author(s):  
Toyoyuki Honjo ◽  
◽  
Hidehisa Yoshida

Bipedal walking locomotion is one of the characteristics of human behavior. Both the lower body and the upper body (trunk) behaviors affect walking characteristics. To achieve a suitable gait, it is important to understand the effect of the trunk behavior. Therefore, in this paper, the effects of three types of trunk swinging behavior on planar bipedal gait in a model with an upper body – forward swinging, backward swinging, and no swinging – were evaluated using numerical simulations. To reduce control inputs and reflect the effect of upper body behavior, an underactuated bipedal walker without knee joints was adopted. This walker walked down a gentle slope using only hip actuation between the stance leg and the trunk. As a result, unique gait characteristics that depended on the direction of the trunk swinging behavior were found, including a longer step length and a lower-frequency gait with forward trunk swinging behavior and a shorter step length and higher-frequency gait with smaller angular momentum with backward trunk swinging behavior.


Robotica ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 875-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toyoyuki Honjo ◽  
Akinori Nagano ◽  
Zhi-Wei Luo

SUMMARYWalking locomotion involves complex movement of total center of mass. Not only the lower body behavior but also the upper body behavior affects the walking characteristics. Therefore, in this paper we derive the principle of parametrically excited inverted double pendulum to consider both lower body and upper body dynamics. We propose one approach to utilize the upper body behavior of the robot for energy efficient bipedal locomotion. In addition, we analyze the property of parametrically excited inverted double pendulum.



2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sungwoo Park ◽  
James M. Finley

AbstractA fundamental feature of human locomotor control is the need to adapt our walking pattern in response to changes in the environment. For example, when people walk on a split-belt treadmill which has belts that move at different speeds, they adapt to the asymmetric speed constraints by reducing their spatiotemporal asymmetry. Here, we aim to understand the role of stability as a potential factor driving this adaptation process. We recruited 24 healthy, young adults to adapt to walking on a split-belt treadmill while either holding on to a handrail or walking with free arm swing. We measured whole-body angular momentum and step length asymmetry as measures of dynamic balance and spatiotemporal asymmetry, respectively. To understand how changes in intersegmental coordination influenced measures of dynamic balance, we also measured segmental angular momenta and the coefficient of limb cancellation. When participants were initially exposed to the asymmetry in belt speeds, we observed an increase in whole-body angular momentum that was due to both an increase in the momentum of individual limb segments and a reduction in limb cancellation. Holding on to a handrail reduced the perturbation to asymmetry during the early phase of adaptation and resulted in a smaller after-effect during post-adaptation. In addition, the stabilization provided by holding on to a handrail led to reductions in the coupling between angular momentum and asymmetry. These results suggest that regulation of dynamic balance is most important during the initial, transient phase of adaptation to walking on a split-belt treadmill.Summary StatementRegulation of balance exhibits a transient effect on adaptation to imposed asymmetries during bipedal walking. External stabilization attenuates initial deviations in spatiotemporal asymmetry but has no effect on subsequent adaptation.



2012 ◽  
Vol 09 (04) ◽  
pp. 1250033 ◽  
Author(s):  
BARKAN UGURLU ◽  
JODY A. SAGLIA ◽  
NIKOS G. TSAGARAKIS ◽  
DARWIN G. CALDWELL

This paper is aimed at describing a technique to compensate undesired yaw moment, which is inevitably induced about the support foot during single support phases while a bipedal robot is in motion. The main strategy in this method is to rotate the upper body in a way to exert a secondary moment that counteracts to the factors which create the undesired moment. In order to compute the yaw moment by considering all the factors, we utilized Eulerian ZMP Resolution, as it is capable of characterizing the robot's rotational inertia, a crucial component of its dynamics. In doing so, intrinsic angular momentum rate changes are smoothly included in yaw moment equations. Applying the proposed technique, we conducted several bipedal walking experiments using the actual bipedal robot CoMan. As the result, we obtained 61% decrease in undesired yaw moment and 82% regulation in yaw-axis deviation, which satisfactorily verify the efficiency of the proposed approach, in comparison to off-the-shelf techniques.



Author(s):  
Jennifer N. Jackson ◽  
Chris J. Hass ◽  
John K. De Witt ◽  
Jonathan P. Walter ◽  
Benjamin J. Fregly

Bipedal walking is a typical activity of daily living, but the overarching control strategy used by the central nervous system (CNS) to make this motion efficient, or even possible, remains unknown. Researchers in robotics have developed control strategies for bipedal gait through the regulation of central (i.e., about the mass center) angular momentum resolved along three orthogonal directions during the walking cycle. Although recent research has focused on conservation of whole-body central angular momentum as a possible control law for walking [1–3], there is little data to support this theory for other motions such as running or marching. Even less data exist for how whole-body linear momentum varies during human locomotion.



2021 ◽  
pp. 154596832110193
Author(s):  
Sungwoo Park ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Natalia Sánchez ◽  
Julie K. Tilson ◽  
Sara J. Mulroy ◽  
...  

Background People poststroke often walk with a spatiotemporally asymmetric gait, due in part to sensorimotor impairments in the paretic lower extremity. Although reducing asymmetry is a common objective of rehabilitation, the effects of improving symmetry on balance are yet to be determined. Objective We established the concurrent validity of whole-body angular momentum as a measure of balance, and we determined if reducing step length asymmetry would improve balance by decreasing whole-body angular momentum. Methods We performed clinical balance assessments and measured whole-body angular momentum during walking using a full-body marker set in a sample of 36 people with chronic stroke. We then used a biofeedback-based approach to modify step length asymmetry in a subset of 15 of these individuals who had marked asymmetry and we measured the resulting changes in whole-body angular momentum. Results When participants walked without biofeedback, whole-body angular momentum in the sagittal and frontal plane was negatively correlated with scores on the Berg Balance Scale and Functional Gait Assessment supporting the validity of whole-body angular momentum as an objective measure of dynamic balance. We also observed that when participants walked more symmetrically, their whole-body angular momentum in the sagittal plane increased rather than decreased. Conclusions Voluntary reductions of step length asymmetry in people poststroke resulted in reduced measures of dynamic balance. This is consistent with the idea that after stroke, individuals might have an implicit preference not to deviate from their natural asymmetry while walking because it could compromise their balance. Clinical Trials Number: NCT03916562.



2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi E. Hintsala ◽  
Rasmus I. P. Valtonen ◽  
Antti Kiviniemi ◽  
Craig Crandall ◽  
Juha Perkiömäki ◽  
...  

AbstractExercise is beneficial to cardiovascular health, evidenced by reduced post-exercise central aortic blood pressure (BP) and wave reflection. We assessed if post-exercise central hemodynamics are modified due to an altered thermal state related to exercise in the cold in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD patients (n = 11) performed moderate-intensity lower-body exercise (walking at 65–70% of HRmax) and rested in neutral (+ 22 °C) and cold (− 15 °C) conditions. In another protocol, CAD patients (n = 15) performed static (five 1.5 min work cycles, 10–30% of maximal voluntary contraction) and dynamic (three 5 min workloads, 56–80% of HRmax) upper-body exercise at the same temperatures. Both datasets consisted of four 30-min exposures administered in random order. Central aortic BP and augmentation index (AI) were noninvasively assessed via pulse wave analyses prior to and 25 min after these interventions. Lower-body dynamic exercise decreased post-exercise central systolic BP (6–10 mmHg, p < 0.001) and AI (1–6%, p < 0.001) both after cold and neutral and conditions. Dynamic upper-body exercise lowered central systolic BP (2–4 mmHg, p < 0.001) after exposure to both temperatures. In contrast, static upper-body exercise increased central systolic BP after exposure to cold (7 ± 6 mmHg, p < 0.001). Acute dynamic lower and upper-body exercise mainly lowers post-exercise central BP in CAD patients irrespective of the environmental temperature. In contrast, central systolic BP was elevated after static exercise in cold. CAD patients likely benefit from year-round dynamic exercise, but hemodynamic responses following static exercise in a cold environment should be examined further.Clinical trials.gov: NCT02855905 04/08/2016.



2015 ◽  
Vol 86 (7) ◽  
pp. 599-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl J. Ade ◽  
Ryan M. Broxterman ◽  
Jesse C. Craig ◽  
Susanna J. Schlup ◽  
Samuel L. Wilcox ◽  
...  


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. e000886
Author(s):  
John Patrick Haughey ◽  
Peter Fine

When an athlete wears a mouthguard, the position of the lower jaw is changed by virtue of the teeth being unable to occlude. Little research is available in in this area, which have indicated both positive impact and no positive impact.ObjectivesThis study aims to explore the influence of the lower jaw position on athletic performance in elite athletes.MethodsA repeated measures study compared two lower jaw positions, the athlete’s normal (habitual) bite and the lower jaw position when the muscles of mastication are at physiological rest (physiological rest bite). 15 athletes completed a medicine ball putt (upper body power), vertical jump (lower body power), sit and reach (composite hamstring flexibility), passive knee flexion (hamstring muscle length) and star excursion balance (stability and balance) tests in each condition.ResultsPaired t-tests showed the physiological rest bite had significant (p<0.05) positive effect on athletic performance for each test. On average the physiological rest bite provided an increase of lower body power (5.8%), upper body power (10%), hamstring flexibility (14%) and balance and stability (4.8%) compared to the habitual bite.ConclusionThis study provides evidence of the need for further research to confirm if the lower jaw position can be optimised for athletic performance in athletes.



2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Marta Bruno ◽  
Fernando Duarte Pereira ◽  
Renato Fernandes ◽  
Gonçalo Vilhena de Mendonça

The responses to supramaximal exercise testing have been traditionally analyzed by means of standard parametric and nonparametric statistics. Unfortunately, these statistical approaches do not allow insight into the pattern of variation of a given parameter over time. The purpose of this study was to determine if the application of dynamic factor analysis (DFA) allowed discriminating different patterns of power output (PO), during supramaximal exercise, in two groups of children engaged in competitive sports: swimmers and soccer players. Data derived from Wingate testing were used in this study. Analyses were performed on epochs (30 s) of upper and lower body PO obtained from twenty two healthy boys (11 swimmers and 11 soccer players) age 11–12 years old. DFA revealed two distinct patterns of PO during Wingate. Swimmers tended to attain their peak PO (upper and lower body) earlier than soccer players. As importantly, DFA showed that children with a given pattern of upper body PO tend to perform similarly during lower body exercise.



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