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An octopus arm is boneless and mostly composed of muscles placed in the various directions around the nerve. The muscle is placed in three directions mainly, the octopus arm can perform multiple functions such as the contracting, bending, torsion, and stiffness change by driving the muscles selectively. We have developed a flexible manipulator using thin McKibben actuators by imitating the structure...
In this paper, a redundantly actuated chewing robot with two higher kinematic pairs (HKPs) is presented, which can be used in performance test and evaluation of denture material. The robot has six actuators, but only has four degrees of freedom, due to constraints of two HKPs which mimic two temporomandibular joints (TMJs) of human. Quasi-static force analysis in occlusion status is performed to calculate...
Nowadays, decreasing birthrate and aging population become to be the serious social problem in Japan. Therefore, needs of assistive devices are more and more increasing. When people use such assistive devices, there is a risk that devices cost user excessive burden. So analysis and evaluation of motions and load of person who uses assistive devices are necessary. In this paper, a model to analyze...
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between grip strength and inter-muscular coordination of the forearms and hands. Twenty-four healthy young volunteers participated in the experiment. The subjects were instructed to grip hydraulic hand dynamometer with five force levels-maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), 70% MVC, 50% MVC, 30% MVC and without any contraction. Muscle activity...
The thumb and index finger are important digits to performed dexterous and complex manipulation of objects. However, the local muscle fatigue will induce the capacity of force production and impair the precision motor control of the thumb and index finger. This study focused on the exercise-induced local muscle fatigue influencing the COP (center of pressure) area, the SD and the PA (projection angle)...
Force Myography (FMG) is a method of tracking functional motor activity using volumetric changes associated with muscle function. With comparable accuracy and multiple advantages over traditional methods of functional motor activity tracking, FMG has shown a promising potential in terms of applications in human-machine interfaces, tele-operation and healthcare devices. This paper provides a study...
This paper presents a new multi-muscle force estimation approach based on a HD-sEMG/force model in experimental context. Accordingly, we will try to estimate the muscle force of the three elbow flexors: Biceps Brachii (BB), Brachialis (BR) and Brachioradialis (BRD) in isometric isotonic conditions. This will be done by using a recently proposed sEMG/force equation model validated by simulation. For...
The subject studied the relationship between tissue dynamics caused by Quadriceps muscles movement in the knee extension — flexion state and the signal measured from the EMG sensor. Establishment of force and momentum force equations generated by the muscle groups, EMG momentum and voltage equations. Using the Arduino Uno controller, read the signal from the EMG sensor, and save it to an SD memory...
The main objective of the presented work is to do a preliminary sensitivity analysis of the simplified neuromusculoskeletal model of the human middle finger that we have already developed [1], [2]. The importance of this study is to improve the model by well estimating internal parameters, which are the most affecting the model output, and by adapting it to each individual. The sensitivity analysis...
Humans modify their movement characteristics according to the requirement of the movement accuracy. The relations between the required accuracy and muscle activities were previously determined by varying the size of the targets to be reached in isotonic contraction tasks. However, in isometric contraction tasks, such relations have not been studied yet. In this study, we examined whether there was...
The elderly sometimes fall owing to tripping caused by decreased dorsal flexion during the swing phase. A wearable assist device that was able to increase dorsal flexion to reduce the risk of tripping was proposed in this study. This device assists in dorsal flexion during the swing phase by transferring the tension force from the upper body to the foot by connecting them using strings. To improve...
Myoelectric control with surface EMG signal has achieved great success in clinics, but only limited to the control of 2-Degrees-of-freedom prosthesis. With the appearance of multiple-channel and high-density EMG system and the advances of pattern recognition technology, it becomes possible to control a multi-degree smart prosthesis using EMG signals. However, it requires high performance EMG systems...
This paper focuses on the control system design for a wearable power assist device which provides force/torque support for people who are doing physically demanding tasks. The device is actuated by the McKibben artificial muscle. The McKibben actuator is know to exhibit high nonlinearity between the supply pressure and the contractile length, and it is basically difficult to design a high performance...
Three-dimensional stretching is needed to treat equinovarus, which deforms the patient's foot to plantarflexion, adduction, and inversion postures. We have prototyped a three-dimensional stretching machine that the patient can use for the treatment of equinovarus by him- or herself. By adopting a cable-driven mechanism with two independently controllable pneumatic actuators, the stretching machine...
It is a challenge to precisely predict hand grasps based on EMG signals given practical scenarios, due to its inherent nature. This paper proposes a solution to tackle the challenge with a force-driven granular model (FDGM). The problem of n-class hand grasp classification has been represented as force-based granular modelling, in which a number of granules are constructed for each class relying on...
Octopus arm has dexterous grasping capabilities due to their muscular hydrostatic skeletal structure, but too many degrees of freedom and soft tissue cause numerous difficulties to bionic octopus's arm in modelling and controlling. The Cosserat theory is used to establish the space coordinate system of the particle for tendon-driven flexible manipulator, analysis of cable force and establishing an...
The purpose of this study was to investigate changes of the maximal reaching distance (MRD) and the amplitude of electromyography (EMG) in lower limbs during reaching forward (RF) test with outstretched arm in the elderly. Ten healthy elderly subjects and ten healthy young subjects participated in this study. A position sensor was used to record the position coordinates of fingertip, and the EMG signals...
The standing balance undergoes declines with aging that contributes the fall of the elderly. But the age-related balance control during quiet standing upon a slope has not been fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the effects of aging on muscle activation during quiet standing on a slope with different angles. Sixteen healthy young subjects and 16 healthy elderly subjects participated...
Designing a multi-robot system provides numerous advantages for many applications such as low cost, multi-tasking and more efficient group work. However, the rigidity of the robots used in industrial and medical applications increases the probability of injury. Therefore, lots of research is done to increase the safety factor for robot-human interaction. As a result, either separation between the...
This paper illustrates the design, implementation and modelling of the extensor pneumatic muscle actuator (PMA). The extensor soft actuator has a vital feature of ability to bend and extend, and that give it the flexibility to use in numerous applications. The extended behaviour of this actuator is modelled mathematically to be used to predict the length of a wide range of actuators at different air...
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