Title :
Stability analysis of nonlinear muscle dynamics using contraction theory
Author :
Richardson, Andrew G. ; Tresch, Matthew C. ; Bizzi, Emilio ; Slotine, Jean-Jacques E.
Author_Institution :
Div. of Health Sci. & Technol., MIT, Cambridge, MA
Abstract :
Biological motor control systems have a distributed, rather than centralized, architecture. Instabilities in movement, such as tremor, can in part arise from the interactions between different physiological feedback mechanisms. Contraction theory provides tools for analyzing the stability of nonlinear distributed control systems. Here we use contraction theory to investigate the stability provided by the mechanical feedback of muscle dynamics, finding that these dynamics are exponentially stable. This theoretical result complements previous computational and experimental findings regarding the efficacy of viscoelastic properties of muscle in compensating for disturbances
Keywords :
biomechanics; distributed control; medical control systems; muscle; viscoelasticity; biological motor control systems; contraction theory; mechanical feedback; movement instabilities; nonlinear distributed control systems; nonlinear muscle dynamics; physiological feedback mechanisms; stability analysis; tremor; viscoelastic properties; Control systems; Delay; Distributed control; Elasticity; Feedback control; Feedback loop; Muscles; Neurofeedback; Stability analysis; Viscosity; distributed control; muscle; stability;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2005. IEEE-EMBS 2005. 27th Annual International Conference of the
Conference_Location :
Shanghai
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8741-4
DOI :
10.1109/IEMBS.2005.1615594
