A Closed-Form Analytical Modeling of Internal Impulses With Application to Dynamic Machining Task: Biologically Inspired Dual-Arm Robotic Approach

Abstract

Inspired by the human upper extremity, a musculoskeletal dual-arm manipulator is designed for light machining tasks such as hammering and sawing. We claim that musculoskeletal structure has the advantage over conventional robot structures in terms of less internal impulsive forces while performing these machining tasks. We investigated the advantages (in terms of external and internal impulses) of a musculoskeletal dual-arm model over a dual-arm model without muscles, musculoskeletal single arm model, and single arm model without muscles. Moreover, to model the hardness of the material during these tasks, an effective mass model was newly developed and experimentally verified for two different (soft and hard) materials. In order to validate the proposed methodology, a belted ellipsoid denoting the external and internal impulse geometry is employed to analyze the sawing and hammering tasks. Finally, it was found by performing a hammering task that the musculoskeletal dual-arm model is more effective in terms of generating more external impulse while experiencing less internal impulses at the joints.