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About

J. Torrance is a specialist in robotics and biomechanical engineering, with a focused research program centered on the development and control of chewing robots for food texture characterization. Working primarily at Massey University in New Zealand, Torrance made a significant contribution to the field through the design and analysis of a life-sized masticatory robot based on a 6RSS parallel mechanism — a sophisticated system engineered to replicate human jaw movements with biomechanical fidelity. This pioneering work, which has accumulated 56 citations, demonstrated how parallel robot architectures could be harnessed to evaluate food properties in ways that closely mirror natural human mastication. Building on this foundation, Torrance developed advanced position and force control schemes for parallel robots, extending their practical applicability in food science research. A notable methodological contribution involved capturing real human jaw motion using an Articulograph AG500 and faithfully reproducing those movements on the robotic platform. Torrance's doctoral thesis synthesized these advances into a comprehensive framework covering kinematics, motion control, and force estimation. Collectively, this body of work bridges robotics engineering and food science, offering researchers a powerful tool for objective, reproducible food texture analysis.