Analysis of basic strategy of biped locomotion from the view point of joint synergy

我们的神经系统通过利用我们身体的高度自由来完成目标任务。例如，即使肘关节的伸展不足，我们也可以通过其他关节的运动来补偿角度误差，从而将手伸到想要的位置。在这项研究中，我们研究了成人、10岁儿童、猕猴和被动步行者在步行过程中何时以及如何利用这种关节协调，也就是关节协同作用。结果表明，通过进化和学习，两足运动的控制策略发生了变化，我们身体的物理结构有助于关节协同作用的产生。

Our nervous system accomplishes target tasks by exploiting high degrees of freedom of our body. For instance, we can reach our hand to a desired position, even if the extension of the elbow joint is insufficient, by compensating the angle error by the other joint movement. In this study we examined when and how such joint coordination, a.k.a., joint synergy, is exploited during walking by adults, 10-year old children, macaque monkeys, and a passive walker. The results revealed that the control strategy for bipedal locomotion has changed through evolution and learning, and the physical structure of our body contributes to the generation of the joint synergy.