SGS - Conclusion

The robot as built was able to qualitatively come close to reproducing the athlete's sprinting gait cycle. More work could be done to expand upon the results of this project, including the following:

1. Quantify robot kinematics:
   
   1. To produce quantitative data comparing the trajectory of our robot to that of the athlete, we could record video of the robot's motion and repeat the process of extracting kinematic data from the video. As we could more easily track motion of the robot using MATLAB and reflective markers, it could even be possible to automate this process to reduce time.
2. Velocity control & feedback
   1. With an automatic motion tracking algorithm as mentioned above, we could develop closed-loop PID control of the robot using a camera to measure the position in real time. For this controller, the position of the robot ankle would drive the error signal, allowing the robot to match the velocity profile of the athlete as well.
3. Explore other mechanisms
   1. This application pushed the output of the Jansen's linkage to its apparent limits. It's possible other mechanisms, possibly including simpler mechanisms such as six-bar linkages, could have been better-suited for our desired motion.
4. Redesign for adaptability between people
   1. Data from multiple sprinters could be averaged to create a smoother and more accurate dataset.
   2. Investigate how link dimensions can be adjusted to fit users of different sizes and proportions.
5. Identify the sensitivity of each link's affect on the path
   1. Understanding which dimensions were most critical to the path of the output could inform tolerances on each part so an adequate degree of precision is used during machining.