Predictive simulation of human circular gait

Abstract

This paper presents a one-stride formulation to simulate human circular gait using a skeletal model. The formulation is based on a previously presented asymmetric walking formulation (Xiang et al., 2011). The circular walking motion is analysed using the proposed motion prediction method. The global moments due to active forces are decomposed at pelvis to retrieve correct zero moment point (ZMP) and ground reaction forces (GRF). The predicted GRF are compared to those of straight walk. Some insights on human circular gait are obtained. It is found that the transverse GRF of outer step is much larger than that of inner step for a circular gait, and the turning motion has larger jerk for the ZMP trajectory compared to the straight walk, i.e., it has more potential to fall. In addition, the straight walking is validated with the experimental data, and the peak knee joint angle values of the circular gait are compared with the data in the literature.