Catherine Macleod

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About

Catherine Macleod is a leading researcher at the intersection of bipedal robotics and human gait rehabilitation. Her work focuses on translating the reflexive control principles of human locomotion into both robotic walking systems and functional electrical stimulation (FES) technologies for individuals with spinal cord injury. Macleod’s major contribution lies in her innovative approach to treating the relationship between sensory input (particularly ground contact information) and motor output as a black box, allowing her to derive control algorithms directly from human walking data. This methodology has produced a multichannel FES gait-assist system that mimics natural reflexive pathways, offering a promising alternative to traditional rehabilitation strategies. Her most-cited studies, including her 2017 and 2018 papers on reflexive control and human-inspired robotic walking, have each garnered 14 citations, establishing a foundational link between biological locomotion and machine control. By using bipedal robots as simplified models of the nervous system, Macleod is helping to demystify the complex neural control of walking, with direct implications for restoring functional gait after neurological injury.