Biomechanics of Human Locomotion with Constraints to Design Flexible-Wheeled Biped Robots

This paper proposes a biomechanical analysis of human locomotion to define a reference system for designing flexible-wheeled biped robots. The novelties proposed with this paper are twofold: 1) to revolutionize the concept to design humanoid robots as a complete imitation of humans; 2) to reduce the gap between humans and humanoids designing systems obtained by studying limits of human abilities instead of optimizing humanoid capabilities. In this first study, a human walking model is designed with some added constraints. In particular, the feet are always in contact with the ground. Results of this work are used to optimize the real flexible-wheeled biped robot, named ROLLO, with the final aim to move the robot like a human but bypassing the complexities of the human body and the robotic control.