The control of kinematically constrained shoulder complexes: physiological and humanoid examples

This paper applies a task-level approach to the control of holonomically constrained shoulder models. These models include a biomechanical representation based on human physiology and a robotic design based on a parallel-serial structure. Both models involve complex kinematically coupled motion between the shoulder girdle and the humerus. This coupled motion has a significant impact on the resulting humeral pointing dynamics associated with arm movement. The constrained task-level control approach implemented here characterizes and exploits the kinematically coupled nature of these systems by casting the constrained dynamics into a task-level control framework. Examples are presented which illustrate the effectiveness of this approach