scholarly journals Multi-Joint Dynamics and the Development of Movement Control

2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 89-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Otten

The movement control of articulated limbs in humans has been explained in terms of equilibrium points and moving equilibrium points or virtual trajectories. One hypothesis is that the nervous system controls multi-segment limbs by simply planning in terms of these equilibrium points and trajectories. The present paper describes a planar computer simulation of an articulated three-segment limb, controlled by pairs of muscles. The shape of the virtual trajectory is analyzed when the limb is required to make fast movements with endpoint movements along a straight line with bell-shaped velocity profiles. Apparently, the faster the movement, the more the virtual trajectory deviates from the real trajectory and becomes up to eight times longer. The complexity of the shape of the virtual trajectories and its length in these fast movements makes it unlikely that the nervous system plans using these trajectories. it seems simpler to set up the required bursts of muscle activation, coupled in the nervous system to the direction of movement, the s peed, and the place in workspace. Finally, it is argued that the two types of explanation do not contradict each other: when a relation is established in the nervous system between muscle activation and movements, equilibrium points and virtual trajectories are necessarily part of that relation.

2005 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-79
Author(s):  

AbstractThe movement control of articulated limbs in vertebrates has been explained in terms of equilibrium points and moving equilibrium points or virtual trajectories. These hypotheses state that the nervous system makes the control of multi-segment limbs easier by simply planning in terms of these equilibrium points and trajectories. The present paper elaborates on a planar computer simulation of an articulated three-segment limb, controlled by pairs of muscles. The nature of the virtual trajectory is analysed when the limb is required to make fast movements with endpoint movements along a straight line with bell-shaped velocity profiles. It appears that the faster the movement, the more the virtual trajectory deviates from the real trajectory, becoming up to eight times longer. The complexity of the shape of the virtual trajectories in these fast movements makes it unlikely that the nervous system plans to use these trajectories. It seems simpler to set up the required bursts of muscle activation, coupled in the nervous system to the direction of movement, the speed and the place in workspace. Finally, it is argued that the two types of explanation do not contradict each other: when a relation is established in the nervous system between muscle activation and movements, equilibrium points and virtual trajectories are implicitly part of that relation.


2005 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 1443-1458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoram Yekutieli ◽  
Roni Sagiv-Zohar ◽  
Ranit Aharonov ◽  
Yaakov Engel ◽  
Binyamin Hochner ◽  
...  

The octopus arm requires special motor control schemes because it consists almost entirely of muscles and lacks a rigid skeletal support. Here we present a 2D dynamic model of the octopus arm to explore possible strategies of movement control in this muscular hydrostat. The arm is modeled as a multisegment structure, each segment containing longitudinal and transverse muscles and maintaining a constant volume, a prominent feature of muscular hydrostats. The input to the model is the degree of activation of each of its muscles. The model includes the external forces of gravity, buoyancy, and water drag forces (experimentally estimated here). It also includes the internal forces generated by the arm muscles and the forces responsible for maintaining a constant volume. Using this dynamic model to investigate the octopus reaching movement and to explore the mechanisms of bend propagation that characterize this movement, we found the following. 1) A simple command producing a wave of muscle activation moving at a constant velocity is sufficient to replicate the natural reaching movements with similar kinematic features. 2) The biomechanical mechanism that produces the reaching movement is a stiffening wave of muscle contraction that pushes a bend forward along the arm. 3) The perpendicular drag coefficient for an octopus arm is nearly 50 times larger than the tangential drag coefficient. During a reaching movement, only a small portion of the arm is oriented perpendicular to the direction of movement, thus minimizing the drag force.


1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 248-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Chassapis ◽  
G. G. Lowen

An experimentally verified simulation of the elastic-dynamic behavior of a lever-type feed mechanism is presented. Based on a combination of experimental and analytical findings, simplified motion equations could be introduced. In the experimental set-up, the motion of the mechanism is monitored by three angular encoders, which are attached to the drive shaft, the rocker-link shaft, and the feed roller shaft, respectively. Their output, which is stored in a specially designed data acquisition system, allows the correlation of the instantaneous rotations of the feed roller and the rocker shafts to that of the drive shaft. Strain gages provide in and out-of-plane bending-strain histories of the bent coupler. Experiment and theory, for different loading conditions, are correlated by way of the coupler strain, the clutch windup angle and the total feed length. Good qualitative and quantitative agreement between computed and experimental results was found.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zlatko Matjačić ◽  
Matjaž Zadravec ◽  
Jakob Oblak

Clinical rehabilitation of individuals with various neurological disorders requires a significant number of movement repetitions in order to improve coordination and restoration of appropriate muscle activation patterns. Arm reaching movement is frequently practiced via motorized arm cycling ergometers where the trajectory of movement is circular thus providing means for practicing a single and rather nonfunctional set of muscle activation patterns, which is a significant limitation. We have developed a novel mechanism that in the combination with an existing arm ergometer device enables nine different movement modalities/trajectories ranging from purely circular trajectory to four elliptical and four linear trajectories where the direction of movement may be varied. The main objective of this study was to test a hypothesis stating that different movement modalities facilitate differences in muscle activation patterns as a result of varying shape and direction of movement. Muscle activation patterns in all movement modalities were assessed in a group of neurologically intact individuals in the form of recording the electromyographic (EMG) activity of four selected muscle groups of the shoulder and the elbow. Statistical analysis of the root mean square (RMS) values of resulting EMG signals have shown that muscle activation patterns corresponding to each of the nine movement modalities significantly differ in order to accommodate to variation of the trajectories shape and direction. Further, we assessed muscle activation patterns following the same protocol in a selected clinical case of hemiparesis. These results have shown the ability of the selected case subject to produce different muscle activation patterns as a response to different movement modalities which show some resemblance to those assessed in the group of neurologically intact individuals. The results of the study indicate that the developed device may significantly extend the scope of strength and coordination training in stroke rehabilitation which is in current clinical rehabilitation practice done through arm cycling.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Ridzuan Hamid ◽  
Meor M. Meor Hashim ◽  
Lokman Norhashimi ◽  
Muhammad Faris Arriffin ◽  
Azlan Mohamad

Abstract The recent global pandemic is an unprecedented event and took the world by storm. The Movement Control Order (MCO) issued by Malaysia's government to halt the spread of the deadly infection has changed the landscape of work via a flexible working arrangement. The Wells Real Time Centre (WRTC) is not an exception and is also subjected to the change. WRTC is an in-house proactive monitoring hub, built to handle massive real-time drilling data, to support and guide wells delivery effectiveness and excellence. The functionality of the WRTC system and applications are embedded in the wells delivery workflow. The centre houses drilling specialists who are responsible for observing the smooth sailing of well construction and are tasked to intervene when necessary to avoid any unintended incidents. WRTC is equipped with myriads of engineering applications and drilling software that are vital for the operations. Such applications include monitoring software, machine learning applications, engineering modules, real-time data acquisition, and database management. These applications are mostly cloud-based and Internet-facing, hence it is accessible and agile as an infrastructure that is ready to be deployed anytime anywhere when it is required. The strategy for WRTC mobility started as soon as the MCO was announced. This announcement mandated the WRTC to operate outside of the office and required the staff to work from home. The careful coordination and preparation to transform and adapt WRTC to a new norm was greatly assisted by the infrastructure readiness. All of these factors contributed greatly to a successful arrangement with zero to minimal downtime where a workstation was set up in each personnel's home, running at full capacity. This transformation was done within one day of the notice and completed within hours of activation. Despite the successful move, few rooms for improvements such as redundancy of VPN use to access applications and limited access to some proprietary software can be enhanced in the future. WRTC is ready to be mobile and agile to support the drilling operations remotely either in the office or from home. The quick turnaround is a major indicator that WRTC infrastructure and personnel are ready and capable for remote operations without interruption.


Author(s):  
J. Eric Ahlskog

As a prelude to the treatment chapters that follow, we need to define and describe the types of problems and symptoms encountered in DLB and PDD. The clinical picture can be quite varied: problems encountered by one person may be quite different from those encountered by another person, and symptoms that are problematic in one individual may be minimal in another. In these disorders, the Lewy neurodegenerative process potentially affects certain nervous system regions but spares others. Affected areas include thinking and memory circuits, as well as movement (motor) function and the autonomic nervous system, which regulates primary functions such as bladder, bowel, and blood pressure control. Many other brain regions, by contrast, are spared or minimally involved, such as vision and sensation. The brain and spinal cord constitute the central nervous system. The interface between the brain and spinal cord is by way of the brain stem, as shown in Figure 4.1. Thought, memory, and reasoning are primarily organized in the thick layers of cortex overlying lower brain levels. Volitional movements, such as writing, throwing, or kicking, also emanate from the cortex and integrate with circuits just below, including those in the basal ganglia, shown in Figure 4.2. The basal ganglia includes the striatum, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, and substantia nigra, as illustrated in Figure 4.2. Movement information is integrated and modulated in these basal ganglia nuclei and then transmitted down the brain stem to the spinal cord. At spinal cord levels the correct sequence of muscle activation that has been programmed is accomplished. Activated nerves from appropriate regions of the spinal cord relay the signals to the proper muscles. Sensory information from the periphery (limbs) travels in the opposite direction. How are these signals transmitted? Brain cells called neurons have long, wire-like extensions that interface with other neurons, effectively making up circuits that are slightly similar to computer circuits; this is illustrated in Figure 4.3. At the end of these wire-like extensions are tiny enlargements (terminals) that contain specific biological chemicals called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are released when the electrical signal travels down that neuron to the end of that wire-like process.


Author(s):  
D Cardozo

Injection moulding is one of the most important manufacturing processes for mass production of complex plastic parts. The quality of injection moulded parts depends not only on the material, shape, and function of the part design, but also on how the material is processed during moulding. Traditional design approaches based on intuition, prior experience, and trial-and-error methodology have been becoming less efficient and effective. With advances in numerical modelling and computer simulation techniques, there have been tremendous efforts made to develop computer simulation tools to facilitate injection moulding design and process set-up. This paper reviews the history of research and development in the filling simulation of injection moulding. The existing models are classified into three categories: one-dimensional models, 2.5D models, and three-dimensional models. The basic features and relative key techniques about these models have been discussed. The techniques of tacking the moving flow front have also been presented. It is then followed by conclusions and discussions of these mentioned models.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document