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Angular momentum in turns and abrupt starts : strategies for bipedal balance control

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-83). / Transients occur in human walking during a transition to, from, and between steady state walking and act as an impulse destabilizing an otherwise normal gait cycle. Turns and accelerated starts are all common transients encountered and managed intelligently by humans everyday. The population of elderly has increased and understanding balance control in healthy subjects will be more important. In addition, humanoid bipeds are rapidly becoming a more common part of our everyday life. Therefore, they must also be able to navigate our environments adroitly if they are to assist us in our daily living. This thesis takes biomechanical principals of angular momentum and applies them to healthy subjects in an effort to elucidate human balance control strategies. Each transient task is unique, and despite large segmental contributions to whole-body angular momentum during movement, the whole-body angular momentum remains tightly regulated. A analysis of segmental contributions to the principal components explaining more than 90% makes clear the balance control strategy used by healthy humans during these transients. / by Matthew Todd Farrell. / S.M.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/51660
Date January 2009
CreatorsFarrell, Matthew Todd
ContributorsHugh Herr., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Program in Media Arts and Sciences., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Program in Media Arts and Sciences.
PublisherMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Source SetsM.I.T. Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format83 p., application/pdf
RightsM.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

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