Active leg compliance for passive walking

Abstract

Previous research has shown that passive (or ballistic) walking is an energetic efficient and mechanical cheap way of walking. Therefore, ballistic walking would be suitable for applications in rehabilitation technology and autonomous robots. Successful application would require a smooth hip trajectory in order to protect respectively the patient or electronics against large velocity changes due to ground collisions. It is shown that an actively adjustable stance leg compliance in combination with a viscous damping can result in smaller hip velocity changes.