A study on evaluation of the manipulation ability of the upper limb using convex polyhedron (1st report, new vertex search algorithm)

In this paper, we have applied the analysis method for the robot manipulators to the evaluation of the manipulation ability of the human upper limb. The set of maximum hand force based on individual's muscular power characteristics were expressed in the six-dimensional convex polyhedron (Manipulating Force Polyhedron). The spatial characteristic of the manipulation ability of the upper limb in three-dimensional space was clarified by the visualization of the six-dimensional convex polyhedron using a new vertex search algorithm. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method, we compared manipulating force polyhedron with measured maximum hand force. The manipulating force polyhedron was calculated from measured maximum joint torque of the upper limb depending on joint angle and rotation direction. Our evaluation method will be useful not only for the evaluation of the manipulation ability of the upper limb but also for the development of equipment based on individual's muscular power characteristics.