PREDICTIVE SIMULATION OF HUMAN LADDER CLIMBING

An optimization formulation for human ladder climbing simulation is presented. The human model has 55 degrees of freedom - 49 revolute joints and 6 global translation & rotation joints. It is assumed that the ladder climbing motion is symmetric and periodic. The formulation starts with four contact points with both hands and feet. Then, hand and foot moves up and it ends with four contact points again. Design variables are the joint angle profiles and contact reaction forces. The objective function is combined with dynamic efforts and motion tracking. The dynamic efforts are joint torque square which is proportional to the mechanical energy. The motion tracking is the motion capture data tracking so that the motion follows the natural ladder climb motion as well. The dynamics results with joint torques and reaction forces are recovered and analyzed from the simulation.