Date of Award
5-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)
Department
Mechanical Engineering
First Advisor
Bradley Burchett
Second Advisor
David Purdy
Third Advisor
Rebecca Bercich
Abstract
Important in diagnosing gait abnormalities and pathologies is knowing the position of the leg at various points throughout the gait cycle. This is currently done with motion capture technology but the demand for Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) based navigation and position tracking has been on the rise. A required component of this alternative is a gait model that can accurately predict the position of points of interest. In this thesis, a Kalman Filter is constructed using a contrived model to test if, given an accurate gait model, the filter can converge to an accurate and true position solution. Also presented is a Genetic Algorithm approach to dynamic system modeling. The dynamic system is made up of a four-bar linkage and has the ability to adapt to different gaits, both healthy and pathological. Results for the Kalman Filter are illustrated through convergence plots, and final position solutions and results for the Genetic Algorithm are given by position solutions of the four-bar linkage. These results show that a genetic approach is robust and has application in gait analysis
Recommended Citation
Hamather, Hazen James, "Gait Modeling Using Genetic Algorithm Optimized Four-Bar Linkages" (2018). Graduate Theses - Mechanical Engineering. 10.
https://scholar.rose-hulman.edu/mechanical_engineering_grad_theses/10