Crouch gait, one of the most prevalent movement abnormalities among children with cerebral palsy, is frequently treated with surgical lengthening of the hamstrings. To assist in surgical planning many clinical centers use musculoskeletal modeling to help determine if a patient's hamstrings are shorter or lengthen more slowly than during unimpaired gait. However, some subjects with crouch gait w...

This paper presents a parameterized gait generator based on linear inverted pendulum model (LIPM) theory, which allows users to generate a natural gait pattern with desired step sizes. Five types of zero moment point (ZMP) components are proposed for formulating a natural ZMP reference, where ZMP moves continuously during single support phases instead of staying at a fixed point in the sagittal...

UPPER EXTREMITY KINETICS DURING LOFSTRAND CRUTCH-ASSISTED GAIT IN CHILDREN Neha Bhagchandani, B.E. Marquette University, 2010 Complete biomechanical analysis helps evaluate the motion during various gait patterns for the upper and lower extremities. Extensive studies have been performed to evaluate unassisted gait patterns, but very little has been accomplished for studying assisted motion. Chi...

The characteristics of idiopathic hypotonic gait are poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to identify biomechanical parameters that differentiate between children with hypotonia and an age-matched control group. Twelve children with idiopathic hypotonia, aged 6–13 years, participated in the study. Twenty-two children with no known disorders, aged 6–13 years, served as a control grou...

Legged rovers are often considered as viable solutions for traversing unknown terrain. This work addresses the optimal locomotion reconfigurability of quadruped rovers, which consists of obtaining optimal locomotion modes, and transitioning between them. A 2D sagittal plane rover model is considered based on a domestic cat. Using a Genetic Algorithm, the gait, pose and control variables that mi...

Gait is a characteristic unique to every individual and it reflects the health status of an individual. Analysis of the parameters associated with movement can impart some knowledge regarding the gait characteristics of a person. Hence the knowledge of gait abnormalities can aid in assessment and treatment planning. Joint kinematics is one such measure which has clinical implications. The work ...

This proposed thesis topic aims to combine automated planning and hybrid control techniques. In this paper we describe a particular case study in this direction: the development of a quadruped bouncing gait with four qualitative states, quad-stance, touch-off, flight, and touchdown. Our approach is novel in that gait achievement is defined in terms of flexible constraint windows in statespace a...

A novel eccentric paddle mechanism based on the epicyclic gear mechanism (ePaddle-EGM) has been proposed to enhance the mobility of amphibious robot for multi-terrain tasks with diverse locomotion gaits. This paper presents a brief description for this mechanism. Based on the feature of ePaddle-EGM, a unique non-reciprocating legged gait planning method is proposed. This method could minimize t...

quadruped robots have unique capabilities for motion over uneven natural environments. this article presents a stable gait for a quadruped robot in such motions and discusses the inverse-dynamics control scheme to follow the planned gait. first, an explicit dynamics model will be developed using a novel constraint elimination method for an 18-dof quadruped robot. thereafter, an inverse-dynamics...

BACKGROUND The Figure-of-8 Walk Test (F8W) involves straight and curved paths and was designed to represent walking skill in everyday life. OBJECTIVE The purposes of this study were to validate the measure in older adults with walking difficulties and to explore correlates of the curved-path walking measure not represented by a straight-path walking measure. DESIGN Fifty-one community-dwell...