Arizona researchers develop robotic legs that mimic the human gait

I can’t believe I missed this last week: Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed a pair of robotic legs that they claim offer the most accurate representation to date of the human gait. Medgadget reports:

Not only was the physical anatomy of the legs reproduced, but the central pattern generator (CPG), a neural network that triggers repetitive muscle movements, mimicked to activate the robot’s muscle movements. . . The hope is that the robot will help researchers learn more about how we learn to walk and may assist in developing new therapies for the disabled and people with gait problems.

As Gene Ostrovsky points out, the mechanics don’t yet appear to match an actual human stride, but it’s nevertheless a neat project. The researchers published their work in the Journal of Neural Engineering.

Previously: Software that models human movement debuts at tech museum