Efficiency and symmetry of ballisitic gait

This paper studies efficiency and symmetry of ballistic gait. We introduce a compass-like biped model and propose a simple control law for generating the dynamic gait. The efficiency is then numerically analyzed and the optimality of mechanical energy restoration is discussed. It is also shown that perfectly ballistic gait by kick action achieves the highest walking speed and exhibits symmetric gait automatically. We discuss how the symmetric gait is generated from the angular momentum point of view.