Portable Equipment for the Assessment of the Energetic Cost of Human Gait GEORGETA.M. CAPRIS 1 , SILVIA N. MIU 2 , DOINA BUCUR 3 , , 1 Institute for Research and Development in Fine Mechanics, Bucharest, Romania 2,3 University “Politehnica” of Bucharest, Dept of Fine Mechanics, Spl. Independentei no.313, sect. 6, Bucharest, Romania; smiu108@yahoo.com received at the 15 th August 2008, final form at the 17 th September 2008 Abstract: A new portable device was designed and realized that evaluates the energy consumed by humans during the walk on a plain horizontal surface. This energetic cost depends mostly on the work of the ground reaction forces (GRF) in the vertical and forward horizontal directions. The device measures the vertical GRF by means of ten sensors imbedded in a sole of a outer covering of the patient’s shoe, while the forward horizontal GRF is evaluated with an algorithm derived by the authors. The software of the equipment allows both evaluation and displaying of several kinematic and energetic parameters of human walk. The newness of both method and equipment consists in the concept of merging the advantages of the two existing systems, pedometer and treadmill with embedded force platforms, in order to evaluate the gait energetic expenditure. Key words: portable device, ground reaction force, energy cost, kinematic, human gait, pedometer, gait energetic expenditure. 1. INTRODUCTION On a global scale, there are portable equipments for the gait analysis, based on props carrying sensors that are put into or attached to the shoes, that are meant to ascertain the cinematic gait parameters but not to evaluate the energetic expenditure during the gait. Knowing the modern endeavor to use body movement as an efficient form of treatment, the CALORCRO project intends to implement the physical effort for the