This study analyzed the biomechanical and physiological effects of the arm swing in roller ski skating, and compared leg-skating (i.e. ski skating without poles) using a pronounced arm swing (SWING) with leg-skating using locked arms (LOCKED). Sixteen elite male cross-country skiers performed submaximal stages at 10, 15 and 20kmh(-1) on a 2% inclined treadmill in the two techniques. SWING demon...

Loaded walking with typical rigid backpack results in a significant increase the mechanical energy of stance leg and decrease lateral stability. Allowing load to swing, which has been applied shoulder pole, tool widely used Asia for carriage assistance, may attenuate these effects. This paper theoretically analyzes experimentally validates biomechanical energetic effects swinging loads. When 30...

Active control of the mediolateral location of the feet is an important component of a stable bipedal walking pattern, although the roles of sensory feedback in this process are unclear. In the present experiments, we tested whether hip abductor proprioception influenced the control of mediolateral gait motion. Participants performed a series of quiet standing and treadmill walking trials. In s...

Modulating speed over a large range is important in walking, yet understanding how the neuromotor patterns adapt to the changing energetic demands of different speeds is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to identify functional and energetic adaptations in individual muscles in response to walking at faster steady-state speeds using muscle-actuated forward dynamics simulations. ...

Recent evidence suggests that performance of complex locomotor tasks such as walking may be accomplished using a simple underlying organization of co-active muscles, or "modules", which have been assumed to be structured to perform task-specific biomechanical functions. However, no study has explicitly tested whether the modules would actually produce the biomechanical functions associated with...

This paper introduces a walking pattern generation method on an inclined terrain in both pitch and roll directions, and uneven terrain. The walking pattern generation method is based on a modifiable walking pattern generator (MWPG) which allows a zero moment point (ZMP) variation in real-time. As a navigational command set, a 3-D command state (CS) is defined, which consists of single and doubl...

This study focuses on the passive dynamic walking to enable a biped robot on level ground to walk efficiently with simple mechanisms. To build an efficient bipedal robot, utilizing the dynamical property of the robot system is a useful approach. McGeer studied passivedynamic walking, and showed a biped robot without actuators and controllers can walk stably down a shallow slope in simulations a...

This paper presents an interactive hierarchical motion control system dedicated to the animation of human figure locomotion in virtual environments. As observed in gait experiments, controlling the trajectories of the feet during gait is a precise end-point control task. Inverse kinematics with optimal approaches are used to control the complex relationships between the motion of the body and t...

Unilateral, below-knee amputees have altered gait mechanics, which can significantly affect their mobility. Below-knee amputees lose the functional use of the ankle muscles, which are critical during walking to provide body support, forward propulsion, leg-swing initiation and mediolateral balance. Thus, either muscles must compensate or the prosthesis must provide the functional tasks normally...

Stiff-knee gait is a common walking problem in cerebral palsy characterized by insufficient knee flexion during swing. To identify factors that may limit knee flexion in swing, it is necessary to understand how unimpaired subjects successfully coordinate muscles and passive dynamics (gravity and velocity-related forces) to accelerate the knee into flexion during double support, a critical phase...