When joggers meet robots: A preliminary study on foot strike patterns

Abstract

Current research interests for humanoid robots include cost, static stability, and human-likeness. With the help of well-developed locomotion controllers, human-like gait has been realized on humanoid robots with higher energy efficiency and increased motion speed. However, such results are based on the walking function of bipedal robots, running function has been less touched or investigated. Different from walking, running could cause more injuries when human cope with the impact from the ground. In this paper, we define a new foot strike pattern that describes the instinctive human running manner and the performance of a group of adults is collected and analysed for comparison of different foot strike patterns. This helps with lower limbs' injury prevention by proving that most of the impact transient is reduced in the new foot strike pattern for both the shod and the barefoot conditions. Therefore, the newly defined foot strike pattern can be considered as an alternative option to reduce the injury of running activities. Furthermore, it would be possible to apply the foot strike pattern mechanism in humanoid robots, not only to extend the service life from the collision and vibration damage of the components, but also to make robots more human-like.