Analysis of human spine functionality from the perspective of humanoid robots

Abstract

Humanoid robots are considered to be ideal partner in future life for human beings, thus have great application prospects and attracted much attention. Bionics can bring researchers inspirations and lead to great achievements, for example, bipedal walking and dual-arm coordination have been made by bionics. Spine plays an important role in human body motion with unique structure and brilliant properties, but spinal structure is rarely used in humanoid robots. An analysis of the mechanical properties, function in body motion and walking of human spine is presented based on studying its structure and interaction with attaching muscles and other tissues, with the aim to reveal the true regulatory principle of spine and give some inspirations for torso design of humanoid robots.