Physics-based modeling and simulation of human walking: a review of optimization-based and other approaches

Abstract

A review of human walking modeling and simulation is presented. This review focuses on physics-based human walking simulations in the robotics and biomechanics literature. The gait synthesis methods are broadly divided into five categories: (1) inverted pendulum model; (2) passive dynamics walking; (3) zero moment point (ZMP) methods; (4) optimization-based methods; and (5) control-based methods. Features of various methods are discussed, and their advantages and disadvantages are delineated. The modeling, formulation, and computation aspects of each method are reviewed.