Abstract

Perhaps the most general principle underlying human movement is that people prefer to move in ways that minimize their energetic cost. Although aspects of this preference are likely established over evolutionary and developmental timescales, we recently discovered that the nervous system can continuously optimize cost in real-time. Here I will present our new research focused on uncovering the mechanisms underlying the initiation of this optimization, as well as its process. Our collective findings indicate that energetic cost is not just an outcome of movement, but also plays a central role in continuously shaping it.

Biography

I study how people and other animals move, and then apply what I find to help our society. I mostly study walking in people, and mostly fundamental things about the back-and-forth relationship between how we walk and the energy we require to do so. But I also like to study big and small animals, and how their size affects how they control their movements.

This comparative work has led me to study kangaroo tails, crocodile gallops, and elephant nerves, to name a few. In the course of my research, I have invented exoskeletons that harvest electrical energy from our movements, devices that stabilize people as they walk, and an iPhone app that controls people’s running pace with music. Others have used my work to develop new ways of rehabilitating people’s gait, and new ways of controlling their walking robots.

I have held Career Investigator awards from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. I was a scientific board member for Nike and Lululemon, and an advisory board member for Stanford University’s Mobilize Center of Excellence. I founded two companies: Bionic Power develops energy harvesting technology for people whose lives depend on portable power, and Control Freak develops wearable technology for regulating exercise using music.

My newest role is as founding scientific co-director of WearTech Labs—an SFU core facility that works with academia and industry to research and develop wearable technology that improves our lives.

Milos Popovic

Jarrett Churchill

Michael Grace-Dacosta

KITE Research Rounds: Energy optimization in human walking

Abstract

Biography

Knowledge . Innovation . Talent . Everywhere

Knowledge . Innovation . Talent . Everywhere

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