An investigation into the execution of human skilled movements

This research is aimed at improving understanding of the execution of human skilled movements in the saggital plane. Towards this aim a model-based approach that consists of the following steps is adopted: (a) a physiologically-motivated model of the lower extremity is developed; (b) a neurophysiological controller with neural activation and intrinsic/peripheral feedback is designed; (c) an optimization algorithm involving muscle-joint stiffness matrix is proposed and used to compute neural firing rates for the execution of movement, (d) the movement is performed in the laboratory and the results are compared with those obtained from the model. A squatting maneuver performed in the sagittal plane is used as an example of skilled movement.