The minimum level of series compliance that adequately protects the transmission from damage during foot collision fails to satisfy bandwidth requirements. As a resolution to this difficulty, parallel motor elasticity is used to lower the forces borne by the SEA, enhancing system force bandwidth. To minimize prosthesis cost of transport (COT) and motor or transmission size, we select a parallel stiffness that supplies the necessary ankle stiffness during early stance period dorsiflexion, eliminating the need for SEA during that gait phase. In future investigations, we hope to apply the ankle-foot design to robotic, orthotic, and exoskeletal applications. In the design of biomimetic ankle-foot systems, we feel both series and parallel motor elasticity are of paramount importance.
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Au et al. (2008) studied this question.
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