视点

仿生手世界上首只具备真实触感的仿生手被移植到截肢病人身上。在此之前,义肢技术已经发展到令人工肢体按照大脑发出的信号作出相应的动作的水平,但它们依然不能传递触摸的感觉。对此,来自瑞士的研究人员     

Reach Envelope of Human Extremities

Significant attention in recent years has been given to obtain a better understanding of human joint ranges, measurement, and functionality, especially in conjunction with commands issued by the central nervous system. While researchers have studied motor commands needed to drive a limb to follow a path trajectory, various computer algorithms have been reported that provide adequate analysis of limb modeling and motion. This paper uses a rigorous mathematical formulation to model human limbs, understand their reach envelope, delineate barriers therein where a trajectory becomes difficult to control, and help visualize these barriers. Workspaces of a typical forearm with 9 degrees of freedom, a typical finger modeled as a 4-degree-of-freedom system, and a lower extremity with 4 degrees of freedom are discussed. The results show that using the proposed formulation, joint limits play an important role in distinguishing the barriers.     

Dynamic Investigation of Interface Stress on Below-Knee Residual Limb in a Prosthetic Socket

The dynamic effects of inertial loads on the interface stresses between a residual limb and the trans-tibial prosthetic socket were investigated. A 3-D nonlinear finite element model, based on the actual geometry of the residual limb, including internal bones and socket liner, was developed to study the mechanical interaction between the socket and the residual limb during walking. To simulate the friction/slip boundary conditions between the skin and liner, automated surface-to-surface contact was used. The results show that interface pressure and shear stress have a similar double-peaked waveform shape in the stance phase. The average difference in interface stresses between the cases with and without consideration of inertial forces is 8.4% in the stance phase and 20.1% in the swing phase. The results suggest that the dynamic effects of inertial loads on interface stress distribution during walking must be considered in prosthetic socket design.