Static fracture tolerance of human metatarsal in being run over by robot

Abstract

Human foot injury due to being run over by a robot is a hazardous event caused by robot motion. This study aims to provide information for the safety design of robots in terms of the risk of foot fracture. A model for scaling the fracture loads of alternate specimens (bear metatarsals) to those of human metatarsals considering the effects of soft tissue is proposed and validated. Using the model, fracture tolerance of metatarsals of a human female foot of statistically typical size is predicted to be 1.24 kN at 10% fracture probability, and 0.53 kN at 1% fracture probability with 95% confidence.