A Simple Model to Estimate Plantarflexor Muscle-Tendon Mechanics and Energetics During Walking With Elastic Ankle Exoskeletons.

ABSTRACT:

Goal

A recent experiment demonstrated that when humans wear unpowered elastic ankle exoskeletons with intermediate spring stiffness, they can reduce their metabolic energy cost to walk by ∼7%. Springs that are too compliant or too stiff have little benefit. The purpose of this study was to use modeling and simulation to explore the muscle-level mechanisms for the "sweet spot" in stiffness during exoskeleton assisted walking.

Methods

We developed a simple lumped uniarticular musculoskeletal model of the plantarflexors operating in parallel with an elastic "exo-tendon." Using an inverse approach with constrained kinematics and kinetics, we rapidly simulated human walking over a range of exoskeleton stiffness values and examined the underlying neuromechanics and energetics of t

SUBMITTER: Sawicki GS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4874912 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature