Development of a low motion-noise humanoid neck: Statics analysis and experimental validation

This paper presents our recently developed humanoid neck system that can effectively mimic motion of human neck with very low motion noises. The feature of low motion noises allows our system to work like a real human head/neck. Thus the level of acoustic noises from wearable equipments, such as donning respirators or chemical-resistant jackets, induced by human head motion can be simulated and investigated using such a system. The objective of this investigation is to facilitate using head-worn communication devices for the person who wears the protective equipment/uniform that usually produces communication-noise when the head/neck moves. Our low motion-noise humanoid neck system is based on the spring structure, which can generate 1 Degree of Freedom (DOF) jaw movement and 3DOF neck movement. To guarantee the low-noise feature, no noise-makers like gear and electro-driven parts are embedded in the head/neck structure. Instead, the motions are driven by seven cables, and the actuators pulling the cables are sealed in a sound insulation box. Furthermore, statics analysis of the system has been processed completely. Experimental results validate the analysis, and clearly show that the head/neck system can greatly mimic the motions of human head with an A-weighted noise level of 30 dB or below.