• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.875-881
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• 2014

The redundancy resolution of the seven DOF (Degree of Freedom) upper limb exoskeleton is key to the synchronous motion between a robot and a human user. According to the seven DOF human arm model, positioning and orientating the wrist can be completed by multiple arm configurations that results in the non-unique solution to the inverse kinematics. This paper presents analysis on the kinematic and dynamic aspect of the human arm movement and its effect on the redundancy resolution of the seven DOF human arm model. The redundancy of the arm is expressed mathematically by defining the swivel angle. The final form of swivel angle can be represented as a linear combination of two different swivel angles achieved by optimizing two cost functions based on kinematic and dynamic criteria. The kinematic criterion is to maximize the projection of the longest principal axis of the manipulability ellipsoid of the human arm on the vector connecting the wrist and the virtual target on the head region. The dynamic criterion is to minimize the mechanical work done in the joint space for each of two consecutive points along the task space trajectory. The contribution of each criterion on the redundancy was verified by the post processing of experimental data collected with a motion capture system. Results indicate that the bimodal redundancy resolution approach improved the accuracy of the predicted swivel angle. Statistical testing of the dynamic constraint contribution shows that under moderate speeds and no load, the dynamic component of the human arm is not dominant, and it is enough to resolve the redundancy without dynamic constraint for the realtime application.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1106-1114
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• 2012

To achieve synchronized motion between a wearable robot and a human user, the redundancy must be resolved in the same manner by both systems. According to the seven DOF (Degrees of Freedom) human arm model composed of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints, positioning and orientating the wrist in space is a task requiring only six DOFs. Due to this redundancy, a given task can be completed by multiple arm configurations, and thus there exists no unique mathematical solution to the inverse kinematics. This paper presents analysis on the kinematic and dynamic aspect of the human arm movement and their effect on the redundancy resolution of the human arm based on a seven DOF manipulator model. The redundancy of the arm is expressed mathematically by defining the swivel angle. The final form of swivel angle can be represented as a linear combination of two different swivel angles achieved by optimizing different cost functions based on kinematic and dynamic criteria. The kinematic criterion is to maximize the projection of the longest principal axis of the manipulability ellipsoid for the human arm on the vector connecting the wrist and the virtual target on the head region. The dynamic criterion is to minimize the mechanical work done in the joint space for each two consecutive points along the task space trajectory. As a first step, the redundancy based on the kinematic criterion will be thoroughly studied based on the motion capture data analysis. Experimental results indicate that by using the proposed redundancy resolution criterion in the kinematic level, error between the predicted and the actual swivel angle acquired from the motor control system is less than five degrees.