Anthroform Arm

Abstract

Description

The Anthroform Arm is constructed from a variety of subsystems which emulate, to the best degree possible, the corresponding structures of the human arm and central nervous system.

		Skeletal components are constructed with fiberglass using molds made with human cadaver bones. Large image [6.3MB]
	Surgical replacement joints (stainless steel) are used for the elbow and shoulder joints. Fabric ligaments are attached to both sides of the joints at biomechanically accurate locations.
	Pneumatic McKibben Artificial Muscle actuators are used for the arm's muscles; these too are attached at biomechanically accurate locations.
	Functional replicas of muscle spindles were developed to sense the elbow position. Like human muscle spindles, these sensors contain active elements which change their output functions based on seperate afferent neural input singnals.
	New computational models of the human neural circuits used in spinal reflexive postural control were developed from known physiological parameters and existing experimental data. A specialized Digital Signal Processor (DSP) board has been developed to emulate the function of human spinal-reflexive neural circuits used in postural and motion control.

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Devices

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McKibben Artificial Muscles

Artificial Muscle Spindles

(*) Note: Most of the BRL publications are available on-line in a PDF format. You may used the publication's reference number as a link to the individual manuscript.

[067]
P.H. Marbot, B. Hannaford, 'The Mechanical Spindle: a Replica of the Mammalian Muscle Spindle,' Proceedings, IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, San Diego, CA, October, 1993.

[068]
I. MacDuff, S. Venema, B. Hannaford, 'The Anthroform Neural Controller: An Architecture for Spinal Circuit Emulation,' Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on EMBS, pp. 1289,90, Paris, 1992.

[070]
I. MacDuff, S. Venema, B. Hannaford, 'The Anthroform Neural Controller: A System for Detailed Emulation of Neural Circuits,' Proceedings, IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, vol. 1, pp. 117-22, Chicago, IL, October, 1992.

[077]
C.P. Chou, B. Hannaford, 'Static and Dynamic Characteristics of McKibben Pneumatic Artificial Muscles,' Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, San Diego, CA, May, 1994.

[086]
B. Hannaford, J.M. Winters, C.P. Chou, 'The Anthroform Biorobotic Arm,' Video Proceedings, IEEE Intl. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, San Diego, CA, May, 1994.

[Th002]
C.P. Chou, 'Dual Stable Point Model of Muscle Activation and Deactivation,' MSEE Thesis, University of Washington, Department of Electrical Engineering, Nov, 1991.

[080]
C.P. Chou, B. Hannaford, 'Measurement and Modeling of McKibben Pneumatic Artificial Muscles,' IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, vol. 12, pp. 90-102, Feb. 1996.

[091]
B. Hannaford, J.M. Winters, C.P. Chou, P.H. Marbot, 'The Anthroform Arm: A System for the Study of Spinal Circuits,' Annals of Biomedical Engineering: L. Stark Special Issue, vol. 23, pp. 399-408, March 1995.

[106]
C.P. Chou, B. Hannaford, 'Study of Human Forearm Posture Maintenance with a Physiologically Based Robotic Arm and Spinal Level Neural Controller,' Biological Cybernetics, vol. 76, pp. 285-298, 1997.

[116]
G. Klute, B. Hannaford, 'Fatigue Characteristics of McKibben Artificial Muscle Actuators,' Proceedings. IROS-98, pp. 1776-82, Victoria, B.C., Canada, Nov. 1998.

[123]
G.K. Klute, J. Czerniecki, B. Hannaford, 'Development of Powered Prosthetic Lower Limb,' Proc. 1st National Mtg, Veterans Affairs Rehab. R&D Service, Washington, DC, October 1998.

[129]
G.K. Klute, J.M. Czerniecki, B. Hannaford, 'McKibben Artificial Muscles: Pneumatic Actuators with Biomechanical Intelligence,' IEEE/ASME 1999 Intl. Conf. on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, Atlanta GA, September 19-22, 1999.

[131]
G.K. Klute, B. Hannaford, 'Accounting for Elastic Energy Storage in McKibben Artificial Muscle Actuators,' ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurements, and Control, vol. 122, pp. 386-388, June 2000.

[141]
K.N. Jaax, P.H. Marbot, B. Hannaford, 'Development of a Biomimetic Position Sensor for Robotic Kinesthesia,' Proceedings, IROS 2000, Takamatsu, Japan, November, 2000.

[147]
G. Klute, J. Czerniecki, B. Hannaford, 'Artificial tendons: biomechanical design properties for prosthetic lower limbs,' and World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, vol. 3, pp. 1972-5, IEEE, Chicago, July 24-28, 2000.

[149]
K. Jaax, B. Hannaford, 'A Biorobotic Structural Model of the Mammalian Muscle Spindle Primary Afferent Response,' Annals of Biomedical Engineering, vol. 30, pp. 84-96, January 2002.

[Th017]
C.P. Chou, 'Study of Human Motion Control with a Physiologically Based Robotic Arm and Spinal Level Neural Controller,' Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Washington, Department of Electrical Engineering, June 1996.

[Th024]
K.N. Jaax, 'A Robotic Muscle Spindle: Neuromechanics of Individual and Ensemble Response,' Ph.D. Thesis, University of Washington, Department of Bioengineering, June 2001.