Congratulations to PoWeR and EPIC Lab PhD student Ben Shafer lead author of “Neuromechanics and energetics of walking with an ankle exoskeleton using neuromuscular-model based control: a parameter study” for his paper published in the Bionics and Biomimetics section of Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. This work investigated the influence of changing the gain and delay of an emulated reflex in an ankle exoskeleton controller based on plantarflexor muscle mechanics. The key findings were that while no combination of gain and delay lowered the metabolic cost of walking, the assistance did reduce biological ankle torque. Further, the changes in plantarflexor muscle activity, as opposed to biological and exoskeleton mechanics, were correlated with the change in metabolic cost. This work indicates the next generation of exoskeleton controllers to reduce metabolic cost should target electromyography as an online optimization criterion.