Analysis of energy efficiency during human locomotion: models and robotics applications.

The main features of legged locomotion, and the characterization of the visco-elastic properties of lower limbs are the most significant objects of this dissertation. In particular, bipedal locomotion has been analyzed by focusing on walking, and human legs have been treated in order to highlight their properties in terms of compliance and rigidity. The first section focused on mathematical models and provide a comparison between the most important simplified paradigms proposed until this moment in previous literature, and an original model that keep into account also the dissipative effects affecting human walking. The second part of the dissertation treated how the energy balance and the external mechanical power pattern are influenced by dissipative effects and by different strategies for energy injection. In the last part, an unpowered exoskeleton for supporting human walking is introduced and validated on three different subjects.