Abstract
It is widely recognized that dynamic characteristics of human upper extremities can be modeled using the mechanical impedance. Although many studies have been reported on human impedance characteristics in static tasks maintaining an arm posture, there is no such a report for multi-joint movements during dynamic tasks including interactions between the human arm and environments.
In this paper, in order to analyze the human hand impedance in dynamic tasks, a concept of a task readiness impedance is introduced. The human arm impedance should be regulated before motion according to a task requirement for some classes of tasks. For a catching-a-ball task, for example, the hand impedance must be adjusted before the hand contacts with a ball. In this paper, the human impedance in a task readiness phase is called the task readiness impedance, and an estimation method using a virtual reality technique is proposed. Then, characteristics of the human task readiness impedance in a virtual catching-a-ball task are analyzed. Also, a virtual trajectory is roughly estimated in order to simulate human movements using the task readiness impedance.
