Use of the Korenev´s formalism for real time dynamic simulation of the hand forearm system

This paper concerns the dynamic simulation of an articulated structure, modelling the human upper limb. Our aim is to carry out a highly realistic simulation of the anthropomorphic model of the hand and forearm system. In order to establish the equations of motion of the studied anthropomorphic mechanism, we introduce an uncommon formulation in the mechanics of multibody system: the Korenev´s formalism. The use of such formalism allows us to realize this simulation in real time. By real time simulation, we mean that simulated movement has to done at the same rates those of the human. Indeed, the computation time for solving the dynamic forward and inverse models takes less than 0.1 ms for each step. The paper presents this formalism and the model, which structural and functional properties permit the simulation of free movements. The proposed model has 27 degrees of freedom (dofs), which are split into 23 dofs for the hand, 2 dofs for the flexion-extension, and the abduction-adduction of the wrist and 2 dofs for the pronation-supination and the flexion-extension of the forearm. This model is based on bio-mimetic approach, which attempts to simulate the most realistic behavior, with a long term aim of designing an anthropomorphic manipulator robot. Another aim concerns the development of highly realistic simulation platform of virtual manikin animation including not only kinematics aspect but also the dynamic ones.