To investigate the influence of the structure of legs on walking gait patterns of bipedal inverted pendulum

a bipedal model with two-segment legs was proposed. The relationship between the reaction force on the leg and the length of the leg was determined. Functions of motion and the simulation model of the proposed bipedal model were built. Periodic walking gait patterns were solved with Poincare return map and Newton-Raphson algorithm. Influences of model parameters including mechanical energy

attack angle

knee rest angle

and joint stiffness on gait patterns were analyzed. Analytical results show that the initial stiffness of the two-segment leg was large

while it gradually decreased with the increase of the deformation of the leg

indicating that the two-segment leg may soften with deformation. The proposed bipedal model could achieve various walking gait patterns in a certain range of parameters. It could also cover the range of the pacing rate of normal human walking

if the values of the parameters were well selected. Compared with models with linear spring legs

the proposed model was closer to the body structure of real human

and the physical meanings of its parameters were clearer

which lays foundation for experimental verification and parameters calibration of the model.