Design of a Humanoid Shoulder-Elbow Complex

A new challenge in robotics is the development of humanoids, which are robots that assume an anthropomorphic form. A difficulty with humanoid design is the kinematic interpretation of human joints and the development of mechanisms that can mimic human motion. The focus of this work is the development of a kinematic description of the shoulder-elbow complex. The coupling that exists between the shoulder movement and the orientation of the elbow joint is quantified. A mechanism capable of reproducing this coupling is introduced along with the procedural method utilized to determine the variables needed to enforce the couplings that exist within the human shoulder-elbow complex. Experimental results are presented highlighting the accuracy of this mechanism along with the similarities to human configurations.