Human arm-like robot control using the viscoelasticity of human multi-joint arm

Abstract

The human arm performs a variety of skillful movements by adjusting dynamic characteristics of musculoskeletal system. Such characteristics of musculoskeletal system can be mainly described as viscoelasticity of human multi-joint arm. Many biomedical applications of robotics require knowledge of the viscoelasticity of human multi-joint arm in order to make motion appear more natural and accurately. Till now, the real time viscoelasticity of human multi-joint arm has not finally been used absolutely in robot control. This paper reviews a robust estimation method of the human multi-joint arm viscoelasticity during natural movement. A human arm-like robot control scheme using the real time measuring viscoelasticity of human multi-joint arm is proposed. An improved forward gaze model is used in order to study how to adjust the human multi-joint arm viscoelasticity by central nervous system according to external environment. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by the simulation and experimental results.