Program

We are excited to announce that professor Art Kuo from the University of Calgary will be the keynote speaker for NWBS 2025!

Keynote Talk: Locomotion in the real world is anything but the usual biomechanics

Abstract: Humans tend to walk steadily with gait features such as step length and step width that minimize energy expenditure. This appears to be a governing principle for locomotion, except it is unknown how well steady gait in the laboratory represents actual locomotion behavior in the real world. Aside from daily step counts, the behavior of the human is less understood than that the migration of birds or wildlife, and even the daily movements of household pets. But just as these animals have been tracked, so too can the human in the wild. This talk will consider how well daily living is represented by the usual biomechanics as studied in the laboratory. Answer: Not much! In the real world, humans walk in many short bouts, at varying speeds, and on varying terrains, where the usual biomechanical techniques do not apply. Nevertheless, it will be shown that optimization principles can still be applied and can still be tested. Unusual conditions call for unusual studies, which can be both more challenging and more fun than the usual biomechanics.

Biography: Art Kuo is Professor of Kinesiology and Biomedical Engineering at University of Calgary. He was previously in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at University of Michigan. His education includes a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, and post-doctoral training at the R. S. Dow Neurological Sciences Institute in Portland, OR.