科学家创造了“脚踝外骨骼”，让跑步更容易

科学家创造了“脚踝外骨骼”，让跑步更容易

Humans were built to run, but that doesn’t mean that we all enjoy it. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say that a majority of the people reading this probably hate running and that’s okay. Even if you’re in decent shape, running isn’t always easy or comfortable, but Stanford University has developed a new accessory that could change how you feel about running by making it a bit easier.

人类生来就会跑步，但这并不意味着我们都喜欢跑步。事实上，我要大胆地说，读到这篇文章的大多数人可能都讨厌跑步，这没什么大不了的。即使你的身材很好，跑步也不总是那么容易或舒服，但斯坦福大学开发了一种新的配件，可以让跑步变得更容易，从而改变你对跑步的感觉。

The exoskeleton, which the team says they developed partly as a way to make running more accessible to the average person, consists of a lightweight carbon fiber frame, straps and cables attached to external motors. The system takes a significant burden off of the leg muscles, making it roughly 15 percent easier to run than without the exoskeleton equipped.

研究小组表示，他们开发这种外骨骼的部分目的是为了让普通人更方便地跑步。外骨骼由一个轻便的碳纤维框架、皮带和连接在外部马达上的电缆组成。该系统大大减轻了腿部肌肉的负担，使其比没有外骨骼的情况下要容易15%左右。

It’s an impressive improvement from such a relatively simple device, but it’s even more impressive when you consider that the exoskeleton also has to cancel out the added burden of running with a device attached to a person’s legs.

相比这样一个相对简单的装置来说，这是一个令人印象深刻的进步，但是当你考虑到外骨骼还必须抵消附加在人腿上的装置带来的额外的跑步负担时，这更令人印象深刻。

“When people run, their legs behave a lot like a spring, so we were very surprised that spring-like assistance was not effective,” Steve Collins, senior author of the research, said in a statement. “We all have an intuition about how we run or walk but even leading scientists are still discovering how the human body allows us to move efficiently. That’s why experiments like these are so important.”

该研究的资深作者史蒂夫·柯林斯在一份声明中说:“当人们跑步时，腿就像弹簧一样，所以我们很惊讶地发现，像弹簧一样的辅助并没有什么效果。”“我们对如何跑步或走路都有一种直觉，但即使是顶尖的科学家也在探索人体如何让我们更有效地运动。这就是为什么这样的实验如此重要。”

The team isn’t done honing their system and hopes to further reduce the impact of the exoskeleton itself, further boosting the overall gains of the device and enhancing the running motion. Of course, the biggest hurdle would be to make a system that could be worn freely without having to be tethered to an external machine. If the researchers can make that happen, devices that make it easier to run could prove to be popular among both athletic runners and less athletic individuals who aspire to make running part of their daily lives.

该团队还没有完成对系统的打磨，他们希望进一步减少外骨骼本身的影响，进一步提高设备的整体增益，增强跑步运动。当然，最大的障碍将是制造一个可以自由穿戴的系统，而不需要与外部机器相连。如果研究人员能够做到这一点，那么那些使跑步变得更容易的设备，将会在运动爱好者和那些希望将跑步变成日常生活一部分的普通人中受到欢迎。