A Phase-Dependent Hypothesis for Locomotor Functions of Human Foot Complex

The human foot is a very complex structure comprising numerous bones, muscles, ligaments and synovial joints. As the only component in contact with the ground, the foot complex delivers a variety of biomechanical functions during human locomotion, e.g. body support and propulsion, stability maintenance and impact absorption. These need the human foot to be rigid and damped to transmit ground reaction forces to the upper body and maintain body stability, and also to be compliant and resilient to moderate risky impacts and save energy. How does the human foot achieve these apparent conflicting functions？ In this study, we propose a phase-dependent hypothesis for the overall locomotor functions of the human foot complex based on in-vivo measurements of human natural gait and simulation results of a mathematical foot model. We propse that foot functions are highly dependent on gait phase, which is a major characteristics of human locomotion. In early stance just after heel strike, the foot mainly works as a shock absorber by moderating high impacts using the viscouselastic heel pad in both vertical and horizontal directions. In mid-stance phase （-80% of stance phase）, the foot complex can be considered as a springy rocker, reserving external mechanical work using the foot arch whilst moving ground contact point forward along a curved path to maintain body stability. In late stance after heel off, the foot complex mainly serves as a force modulator like a gear box, modulating effective mechanical advantages of ankle plantiflexor muscles using metatarsal-phalangeal joints. A sound under- standing of how diverse functions are implemented in a simple foot segment during human locomotion might be useful to gain insight into the overall foot locomotor functions and hence to facilitate clinical diagnosis, rehabilitation product design and humanoid robot development.

An In Vivo Experimental Validation of a Computational Model of Human Foot

Reliable computational foot models offer an alternative means to enhance knowledge on the biomechanics of human foot. Model validation is one of the most critical aspects of the entire foot modeling and analysis process.This paper presents an in vivo experiment combining motion capture system and plantar pressure measure platform to validate a three-dimensional finite element model of human foot.The Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI)slices for the foot modeling and the experimental data for validation were both collected from the same volunteer subject.The validated components included the comparison of static model predictions of plantar force,plantar pressure and foot surface deformation during six loading conditions,to equivalent measured data.During the whole experiment,foot surface deformation,plantar force and plantar pressure were recorded simultaneously during six different loaded standing conditions.The predictions of the current FE model were in good agreement with these experimental results.

Computational Models to Synthesize Human Walking

The synthesis of human walking is of great interest in biomechanics and biomimetic engineering due to its predictive capabilities and potential applications in clinical biomechanics, rehabilitation engineering and biomimetic robotics. In this paper, the various methods that have been used to synthesize humanwalking are reviewed from an engineering viewpoint. This involves a wide spectrum of approaches, from simple passive walking theories to large-scale computational models integrating the nervous, muscular and skeletal systems. These methods are roughly categorized under four headings： models inspired by the concept of a CPG （Central Pattern Generator）, methods based on the principles of control engineering, predictive gait simulation using optimisation, and models inspired by passive walking theory. The shortcomings and advantages of these methods are examined, and future directions are discussed in the context of providing insights into the neural control objectives driving gait and improving the stability of the predicted gaits. Future advancements are likely to be motivated by improved understanding of neural control strategies and the subtle complexities of the musculoskeletal system during human locomotion. It is only a matter of time before predictive gait models become a practical and valuable tool in clinical diagnosis, rehabilitation engineering and robotics.

Geometric design of crab-like climbing and walking robots

This paper considers the geometric design of crab-like walkers and climbers, without decoupling leg design from overall machine design. Crab-like machines represent an important sub-class of multi-legged robots, being particularly well suited to crossing difficult terrains. Firstly, the kinematic configurations and constraints are described, which determine the machine’s kinematic characteristics. The influence of the design parameters on the kinematic workspace is discussed. Finally, a two stage design methodology is presented, comprising kinematic design and design optimisation, the latter being based on the use of design maps rather than numerical optimisation. The performance measures considered during design optimisation include kinematic, static and quasi-static measures.

MIRABEL:欧洲景观中生物多样性综合评估和评述模型

本文应用一种综合概念框架——MIRABEL——对由环境变化对生物多样性引起的后果进行了分析,我们在此讨论了这一模型的方法和其中的部分结果。文章就欧洲28个国家对所预测的因10类环境压力造成的受胁迫生境的地位变化用MIRABEL模型进行了列表显示。通过对13个生态区域中的每一个区域编制单独的影响表格,对在压力和影响严重的情况下区域的变化进行了研究。结果表明,农业集约化是主要的威胁因子之一。通过MIRABEL记载,证明欧洲不同生态地区的压力强度、其变化速率以及过去和将来对生物多样性的影响差异,与欧洲生物地理变异有关,这就要求我们在评价环境变化时需要将这些差异性考虑在内。