On the Interaction between the Human and The Robot in Bipedal Walking

The aim of this paper is to emphasize the interaction which should exist between the domains involved in the study of bipedal locomotion, and the limits of this interaction. These domains can be divided into two main fields depending whether they are concerned with living beings or with artificial structures. The project BIP of INRIA has developed an anthropomorphic mechanical biped machine aimed at the analysis and the control of human and robot static and dynamic walking gaits. This paper presents how the existing works concerning human walking have directly inspired our approach of the problem of controlling the robot. We also believe that our works concerning robot walking can find out an application in the analysis of human walking, and in the field of rehabilitation of disabled people.