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The article presents an approach to the synthesis of structures of automatic control systems for fiber-sorption technical muscles using the problem of synthesis of optimal control of nonlinear objects using the calculus of variations. Fiber-sorption technical muscle and drive system were developed in the framework of research work conducted at the Department of the Faculty of Technical Cybernetics...
The paper presents a novel control method for the arm exoskeletons that takes into account the muscular force manipulability of the human arm. In contrast to classical controllers that provide assistance without considering the biomechanical properties of the human arm, we propose a control method that takes into account the configuration of the arm and the direction of the motion to effectively compensate...
In this paper, the thickness change of biceps brachii during the fatigue process is continuously monitored using one micro-size single-element ultrasound transducer and analyzed by the echo tracking algorithm. We focus on isometric, 50 % maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of the elbow. Four subjects participates in the experiment and the result shows that the muscle thickness of biceps brachii continues...
In this study, we propose a novel method to explore the relationship between grip force and forearm muscle thickness during isometric contraction. One-directional ultrasound was used to detect the depth of muscle-bone interface. By tracking the movement of this interface, the change of muscle thickness can be calculated. A dynamometer was used to measure force. Three able-bodied subjects were asked...
Understanding how multiple muscles are recruited across a joint has typically been approached from relating muscle activity to resultant forces. New tools are now available to look deeper into a muscle's recruitment by observing groups of single motor units. Identifying changes in the motor unit activity both within a muscle and between muscles the redundancies in motor control can be better understood...
It is of great significance to detect and predict muscle fatigue for avoiding muscle injury and the negative effects on human-machine interface. This paper presents a novel approach to obtain reliable information about muscle fatigue by analyzing surface electromyography (sEMG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) simultaneously. Muscle fatigue was induced via sustained isometric contraction at 50%...
Human-like musculor-skeletal arm model with its unique smooth and natural movements as well as low energy cost has attracted many researchers' interests and developed rapidly nowadays. In this paper, we focus on a human-like musculor-skeletal arm model with three links driven by nine muscles and propose a control model with two neurocontrollers trained by the NEAT algorithm. The NEAT (Neuroevolution...
Low back pain is one of the world's most serious health problems. Conservative methods are recommended for back pain, and stabilization exercise as one of these methods has been proven to be effective. The “big 3” exercises are proven stabilization exercises, and it is able to train most of the muscles associated with low back stability. However, they are hard to be performed by some patients because...
Bio-syncretic robots, consisting of living biological materials and traditional electromechanical systems, have attracted lots of attention due to the potentialities of self-sensing, self-actuation and self-repairing with intrinsic safety and high energy conversion efficiency. However, most of current researches focus on the movement of the devices, and have ignored the study on the control of actuation...
In recent years in Japan, over half of all workers suffered from lower back pain. This has become a social problem that needs to be addressed. To reduce its occurrence, we developed a flexible, high-output waist assist suit called “AB-Wear” in a previous study. The AB-Wear suit can assist human motion and reduce muscular fatigue of the waist. However, the assistive forces of the device generate compressive...
We report on the design, development, and performance of a new calorimeter for measuring the heat-production and force-development of tiny samples of muscle tissue, while they are exposed to time-varying concentrations of a pharmacological agent. Fluid is delivered to a muscle sample by a syringe pump synchronized with a servo-controlled gravity-fed flow system. The rate of muscle heat production...
This paper presents the static and dynamic modeling for a recently discovered artificial muscle-twisted and coiled actuator (TCA). This actuator can generate large force and displacement; moreover, it is low-cost, easy to fabricate, and customizable. Since the discovery of TCA, it has been widely adopted for various robotic applications. Nevertheless, theoretical models to describe the static performance...
This paper presents the design and experimental validation of a soft pneumatic artificial muscle with position and force sensing capabilities. Conductive liquid-based soft sensors are embedded in a fiber-reinforced contractile actuator to measure two modes of deformation — axial strain and diametral expansion — which, together, are used to determine the stroke length and contractile force generated...
Fluidic actuators allow versatile, agile, and powerful motions and are commonly applied in robotics and automation. Likewise, many biological systems use fluidic actuators implemented with tissue for a wealth of tasks and performances. Spiders for example apply a hybrid mechanism of hydraulically actuated joint extension and muscle-based joint flexion to produce movement in two of their seven leg...
Soft robots are inherently compliant and adaptive, therefore they are promising candidates for interacting with humans. However robotic manipulators utilizing soft actuators are often constrained by a series of actuator performance limitations. In this work we design a novel linear soft robotic actuator with significantly improved performances over the existing products, achieving 300% deformation...
The primary contribution of this work is the development of a generalized modeling methodology for complex tendon systems toward a long-term goal of modeling the mechanical structure of the human finger. The key feature of this model is its ability to predict how muscle forces will transmit through an interconnected tendon network based on tendon kinematics and the current joint posture, so that the...
In this paper, we present an electromyography (EMG)-driven assistive hand exoskeleton for spinal-cord-injury (SCI) patients. We developed an active assistive orthosis, called Maestro, which is light, comfortable, compliant, and capable of providing various hand poses. The EMG signals are obtained from a subject's forearm, post-processed, and classified for operating Maestro. The performance of Maestro...
The correlation between Mechanical stimulation of human body and sEMG signals is discussed. Based on a multi-information sampling system, the mechanical stimulation and sEMG signals of human body can be obtained. The results indicate there is a remarkable relationship between the mechanical stimulation and sEMG signals, and may provide theoretical basis and significative information for finding out...
The objective of this paper is to present a percussive massage based on robotic tapping motion, and it is also the first paper to discuss the massage technique for this kind. The tapping motion is different from the common contact motion, it satisfies with the short-time contact on human muscles, and the robot end-effector itself has an initial velocity and acceleration to make an impulse contact...
Inspired from Hogan's myoelectric processor in 1980, this study presents a stochastic sEMG processing method to estimate the muscle activation level for manipulator control. Hogan's previous study showed the feasibility to estimate the muscle activation level with multi-channel sEMG under static force condition. However, it is difficult to continuously estimate muscle activation during dynamic contraction...
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