Abstract
This paper presents basic characteristic of thin McKibben artificial muscle, such as contractile force, shrinkage factor, and durability and development of upper limb muscle mechanism. McKibben artificial muscle is soft and light actuator which shrinks by air pressure. McKibben artificial muscle has compliance and its movement is like real muscle. Thin McKibben artificial muscles are possible to bund and shrinkage of the artificial muscle is increased by bundling the artificial muscle. Human musculoskeletal structure has a mechanism which is different from conventional robot, such as the mechanism that center of rotation changes, and multi-joint muscle mechanism. By using a thin McKibben artificial muscle, I reproduce the movement of the human upper limb.
