Method for simulative reproduction, verification and technical adaptation as part of biological kinematics studies

Abstract

Bionic development approaches are a widespread method of adapting inspirations from nature to technical applications. In case of models which are hard to analyze, a superficial examination is often not sufficient and a microscopic analysis is not feasible due to the delicate biological structure. By reproducing the biological model, a simulation, thus a verification and finally an abstraction with a possible simplification of the desired design aspects can be achieved. To streamline this process, a method for conducting biological kinematics studies is proposed. A kinematic analysis of the cervical spine of American barn owls serves as an example to demonstrate the method. Especially in this case, an analysis of the cervical spine was difficult to perform because, for example, X-rays of the living animal provide only poor image resolution. In addition, it cannot be guaranteed that all possible head movements are executed to the limits during the observation. For the analysis, cervical vertebrae recorded by micro computed tomography are virtually aligned according to the biological model. Based on this virtual model, an abstract kinematic model is established and adapted into simplified technical joints via computer-aided design software. With the help of this model, all possible poses of the cervical spine and thus the end effector position can be determined in a simulation environment by means of inverse kinematics algorithms. The resulting reachability map has revealed that by reducing the individual angles of the vertebrae, or even by removing a whole degree of freedom, it is possible to keep the mobility of the entire system nearly constant. In addition, this reachability map provides important information for biologists, which allows the verification of previously made assumptions about owl’s cervical spine mobility. The bionic design process of kinematics can be streamlined by the method described for reproducing, verifying and transferring biological hypotheses. In some cases this is what makes technical adaptation possible at all. Taking into account the simplifications of the individual movements carried out in this way, optimized actuator concepts can be used in the future and thus more efficient robot joints can be developed.