Control of balance during human walking
Event details
| Date | 30.01.2015 |
| Hour | 14:00 |
| Speaker | Prof. Art Kuo, University of Michigan |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Humans walk quite easily in their everyday surroundings, seemingly with little conscious effort. But even a small step up or down in the floor height can easily cause a person to stumble or fall if they are inattentive, or if the floor is poorly lit. Bipedal robots are also similarly sensitive to the terrain they walk on. In humans, vision and other sensors play a key role in maintenance of balance. But it is not known what control law they enforce, nor is it clear what complexity is entailed in the control, however unconscious it may seem.
We will use the dynamics of walking as a means to tackle these questions. We will show that the dynamics of the limbs can contribute to some degree of self-stability, especially with some aid from neuromuscular dynamics. But even with these self-stabilizing properties, some aspects of balance appear to require active control and good sensing of the body's orientation and expected footfall location. We will examine evidence for such control, and discuss the simplest ways that balance might be controlled. This may provide insight on how the human nervous system handles balance, as well as the challenges that future bipedal robots might face.
Bio: Art Kuo is Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. His research interests are in human walking, balance and other movements, using engineering principles to bridge between mechanics and biology. He directs the Human Biomechanics and Control Laboratory, which pursues research topics such as design of prosthetic limbs, neural control of muscles, sensorimotor integration for balance, energetics of walking, mobility of older and impaired individuals, and robot locomotion.
He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.S. Electrical Engineering), and then Stanford University (Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering. At the University of Michigan, he teaches courses in dynamics and systems & control.
We will use the dynamics of walking as a means to tackle these questions. We will show that the dynamics of the limbs can contribute to some degree of self-stability, especially with some aid from neuromuscular dynamics. But even with these self-stabilizing properties, some aspects of balance appear to require active control and good sensing of the body's orientation and expected footfall location. We will examine evidence for such control, and discuss the simplest ways that balance might be controlled. This may provide insight on how the human nervous system handles balance, as well as the challenges that future bipedal robots might face.
Bio: Art Kuo is Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. His research interests are in human walking, balance and other movements, using engineering principles to bridge between mechanics and biology. He directs the Human Biomechanics and Control Laboratory, which pursues research topics such as design of prosthetic limbs, neural control of muscles, sensorimotor integration for balance, energetics of walking, mobility of older and impaired individuals, and robot locomotion.
He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.S. Electrical Engineering), and then Stanford University (Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering. At the University of Michigan, he teaches courses in dynamics and systems & control.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Prof. Auke Ijspeert
Contact
- Mostafa Ajallooeian