Energetics Study of Mechanically Coupled Human Walking
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Date
2016-05
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
For many decades, researchers have been studying human locomotion in an attempt to completely understand how humans move and why they move in a particular way. Such research has suggested that humans move in a manner that minimizes energy consumption while satisfying other constraints such as stability. To test whether energy optimality is a broadly applicable theory to describe human movement in every situation, human locomotion has been studied in many unique scenarios. Here, we study the energetics of walking in the following unique scenario: when two humans are mechanically coupled together in order to simulate a quadruped. With relatively little research on the energetic effects of different stepping patterns in quadrupeds, the mechanically coupled human scenario allows for a quick, inexpensive way to study this variable. We explored the affects that walking in different stepping patterns has on the total energy consumption of the simulated quadruped. Human subjects walked in various stepping patterns while the ground reaction forces from their legs were recorded. Using the ground reaction forces, we estimated the net mechanical work by the legs, from which we estimated the total metabolic rate of the subjects. The metabolic rate estimate showed that a 90° phase shift was the optimal stepping pattern. However, due to limitations in the mechanical work calculation, this trend may be based on an underestimate of the metabolic rate at these intermediate phases. The preferred stepping pattern of the subjects, estimated using the total time spent in each of the stepping patterns, showed that In-Sync walking was the preferred stepping pattern of the subjects in this mechanically coupled situation. Further metabolic estimation studies involving oxygen consumption measurements will allow us to more accurately quantify the relationship between metabolic rate and stepping pattern of the simulated quadruped.
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Keywords
Energy consumption, Human locomotion, Mechanical work, Quadruped, Stepping pattern