Design, Construction and Validation of a Proof of Concept Flexible–Rigid Mechanism Emulating Human Leg Behavior

Applied Sciences

Christopher Cheney¹  Nicholas Cessna¹  Erik Jung¹  Mircea Teodorescu¹  Dennis Castro¹  Victoria Ly¹  Mai Linh Ngo¹ 

[1] Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA;

关键词: bio-inspired robotics;    musculoskeletal modeling;    robotics;    flexible-robotics;   

DOI  :  10.3390/app11199351

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

In most robotics simulations, human joints (e.g., hips and knees) are assumed to be revolute joints with limited range rotations. However, this approach neglects the internal flexibility of the joint, which could present a significant drawback in some applications. We propose a tensegrity-inspired robotic manipulator that can replicate the kinematic behavior of the human leg. The design of the hip and knee resembles the musculoskeletal connections within the human body. Our implementation represents muscles, tendons and ligament connections as cables, and bones as rods. This particular design manipulates muscles to replicate a human-like gait, which demonstrates its potential for use as an anatomically correct assistive device (prosthetic, exoskeleton, etc.). Using the OpenSim 3.0 simulation environment, we estimated the kinematics and structural integrity of the proposed flexural joint design and determined the actuation strategies for our prototype. Kinematics for the prototype include the mechanical limitations and constraints derived from the simulations. We compared the simulation, physical prototype, and human leg behaviors for various ranges of motion and demonstrated the potential for using OpenSim 3.0 as a flexible–rigid modeling and simulation environment.

【 授权许可】

Unknown