In this article, we present design, fabrication, and characterization of a two-degree freedom humanoid neck based on serial chain four-bar mechanism. The nodding mechanism is designed in such a way that an eccentric center of gravity of the robotic head is counterbalanced by pre-tensioned springs which makes the modular neck prototype statically in equilibrium. In addition, due to installation of drive motor away from the rotation axis of nodding system, the torque requirement is significantly reduced allowing the use of low-cost RC servo motor to drive the head assembly. We describe in detail modeling and characterization of the neck rotational movement focusing on nodding mechanism. Extensive mathematical model for interaction of two dynamical systems, head-neck and servomechanism, is developed. Humanoid neck design based on RC servo motor having potentiometer feedback experiences inherent overshooting. In order to overcome the overshoot associated with servo dynamics, an external PD controller is implemented and the motion similar to that of human neck is demonstrated by numerical simulation.
Albers, A., Brudniok, S. and Burger, W.2003. ‘‘The Mechanics of a Humanoid,’’ In: Proceedings of IEEE Humanoids(Humanoid 2003) , Karlsruhe, Germany.
2.
Albers, A., Brudniok, S. and Burger, W.2004. ‘‘Design and Development Process of a Humanoid Robot Upper Body through Experimentation,’’ In: 4th IEEE/RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, 10-12 November, Los Angeles, CA, Vol. 1, pp. 77-92.
3.
Ambrose, R.O., Aldridge, H., Askew, R.S., Burridge, R.R., Bluethmann, W., Diffler, M., Lovchik, C., Magruder, D. and Rehnmark, F.2000. ‘‘Robonaut: NASA’s Space Humanoid,’’IEEE Intelligent Systems and their Applications, 15:57-63.
4.
Analog Devices. 2010. Available at: http://www.analog.com (accessed date February 15, 2010).
5.
An, J. and Kwon, D.S.2009. ‘‘Five-bar Linkage Haptic Device with DC Motors and MR Brakes,’’Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 20:97-107.
6.
Ashrafiuon, H., Eshraghi, M. and Elahinia, M.H.2006. ‘‘Position Control of a Three-link Shape Memory Alloy Actuated Robot,’’ Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 17:381-392.
7.
Backaitis, S.H.1993. Biomechanics of Impact Injury and Injury Tolerances of the Head-Neck Complex, Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., Warrendale, PA.
8.
Bedogni, G., Malavolti, M., Severi1, S., Poli1, M., Mussi, C., Fantuzzi, A.L. and Battistini, N.2002. ‘‘Accuracy of an Eight-point Tactile-electrode Impedance Method in the Assessment of Total Body Water,’’European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 56:1143-1148.
9.
Berns, K. and Braum, T.2005. ‘‘Design Concept of a Human-like Robot Head,’’ In: Proceedings of 5th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, 5 December, USA, pp. 32-37.
10.
Berns, K., Hillenbrand, C. and Mianowski, K.2006. The Mechatronic Design of a Human-like Robot Head, Courses and Lectures-International Center for Mechanical Sciences, pp. 263-270, Springer-Verlag , New York.
11.
Berns, K. and Hirth, J.2006. ‘‘Control of Facial Expressions of the Humanoid Robot Head ROMAN,’’ In: Proceeding of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 9-15 October, Beijing, China, pp. 3119-3124.
12.
Breazeal, C.2004. ‘‘Function Meets Style: Insights from Emotion Theory Applied to HRI,’’ IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C: Applications and Reviews, 34:187-194.
13.
Brooks, R.A., Breazeal, C., Marjanovic, M., Scassellati, B. and Illiamson, M.1998. ‘‘The Cog Project: Building a Humanoid Robot,’’ In: Nehaniv, C. (ed.), The Cog Project: Building a Humanoid Robot,’’ Computation for Metaphors, Analogy, and Agents Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 1562, 52-87.
14.
DC Micromotors. 2010. Available at: http://www.directindustry.com/industrial-manufacturer/dc-micro-motor-72490.html (accessed date February 15, 2010).
15.
Goyal, S.C. and Bakshi, U.A.2007. Control Systems Engineering, Technical Publications Pune, Pune, India.
16.
Guenter, F., Roos, L., Guignard, A. and Billard, A.G.2005. ‘‘Design of a Biomimetic Upper Body for the Humanoid Robot Robota,’’ In: Proceedings of 5th IEEE/RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, 05 December, USA, pp. 56-61.
17.
Han, J.D., Zeng, S.Q., Tham, K.Y., Badgero, M. and Weng, J.Y.2002. ‘‘Dav: A Humanoid Robot Platform for Autonomous Mental Development,’’ In: Proceeding of IEEE 2nd International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL 2002) , 12-15 June, MIT, Cambridge, MA , pp. 73-81.
18.
Hanson Robotics Inc.2009. Available at: www.hansonrobotics.com (accessed date June 22, 2009).
19.
Hanson, D., Bergs, R., Tadesse, Y., White, V. and Priya, S.2006. ‘‘Enhancement of EAP Actuated Facial Expressions by Designed Chamber Geometry in Elastomers,’’ In: Proceedings of SPIE Smart Structures and Materials, 27 February, San Deigo, CA, Vol. 6168, pp. 1-9.
20.
Hashimoto, T., Hitramatsu, S., Tsuji, T. and Kobayashi, H.2006. ‘‘Development of the Face Robot SAYA for Rich Facial Expressions,’’ In: SICE-ICASE, International Joint Conference, 18-21 October, Bexco, Busan, Korea, pp. 5423-5428.
21.
Heymsfield, S.B., Arteaga, C., McManus, C., Smith, J. and Moffitt, S.1983. ‘‘Measurement of Muscle Mass in Humans: Validity of the 24-hour Urinary Creatinine Method,’’ American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 37:478-494.
22.
Huang, Y.2000. ‘‘3D Motion Estimation of Head and Shoulders in Videophone Sequences,’’ In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Communication Technology, WCC - ICCT 2000, 21-25 August, Beijing, China, Vol. 2, pp.1180-1183.
23.
Huelke, D.F.1979. ‘‘Anatomy of the Human Cervical Spine and Associated Structures,’’ In: The Human Neck-Anatomy, Injury Mechanisms and Biomechanics, pp. 1-7, Society of Automotive Engineers Inc., Warrendale, PA.
24.
Jamone, L., Metta, G., Nori, F. and Sandini, G.2006. ‘‘James: A Humanoid Robot Acting over an Unstructured World,’’ In: Proceedings of 6th IEEE/RAS International. Conference on Humanoid Robots, 4-6 December, Genoa, pp. 143-150.
25.
Kawano, H., Ando, H., Hirahara, T., Yun, C. and Ueha, S.2005. ‘‘Application of a Multi-DOF Ultrasonic Servomotor in an Auditory Tele-existence Robot,’’ IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 21:790-800.
26.
Kulakowski, B.T., Gardner, J.F. and Shearer, J.L.2007. Dynamic Modeling and Control of Engineering Systems, 3rd edn, Cambridge University Press, New York.
27.
Lanteigne, E. and Jnifene, A.2008. ‘‘An Experimental Study on a SMA Driven Pressurized Hyper-Redundant Manipulator,’’ Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 19:1067-1076.
28.
Lee, S.H. and Terzopoulos, D.2006. ‘‘Heads Up! Biomechanical Modeling and Neuromuscular Control of the Neck,’’ ACM Transactions on Graphics25: 1188-1198.
29.
Mai, J., Cheng-Tao, C., Qi-Dan, Z. and Zhen, S.2009. ‘‘Helicopter Rotors Pyramid Angle Measurement Based on CMOS Technology,’’ In: IEEE Chinese Control and Decision Conference, CCDC’09, 17-19 June, Guilin, China, pp. 4369-4374.
30.
Mertz, H.J. and Patrick, L.M.1993. ‘‘Investigation of the Kinematics and Kinetics of Whiplash during Vehicle Rear-end Collisions,’’ In: Backaitis, H.S. (ed.), Biomechanics of Impact Injury and Injury and Injury Tolerances of the Head-Neck Complex, pp. 43-71, Society of Automotive Engineers Inc., Warrendale, PA , USA.
31.
Milecki, A. and Sedziak, D.2005. ‘‘The Use of Magnetorheological Fluid Dampers to Reduce Servo Drive Velocity Jumps due to Load Changes, ’’ Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 16:501-510.
32.
Miwa, H., Okuchi, T., Itoh, K., Takanobu, H. and Takanishi, A.2003. ‘‘A New Mental Model for Humanoid Robots for Human Friendly Communication, Introduction of Learning System, Mood Vector and Second Order Equations of Emotion,’’ In: Proceedings of ICRA ’03. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 14-19 September, Taipei, Taiwan, Vol. 3, pp. 3588-3593.
33.
Oh, J.H., Hanson, D., Kim, W.S., Han, Y., Kim, J.Y. and Park, I.W.2006. ‘‘Design of Android Type Humanoid Robot Albert HUBO,’’ In: Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 09-15 October, Beijing, China, pp. 1428-1433.
34.
Ouerfelli, M., Kumar, V. and Harwin, W.S.1999. ‘‘Kinematic Modeling of Head-Neck Movements,’’ IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 29:604-615.
35.
Ouezdou, F.B., Alfayad, S., Pirim, P. and Barthelemy, S.2006. ‘‘Humanoid Head Prototype with Uncoupled Eyes and Vestibular Sensors,’’ In: Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 09-15 October, Beijing, China, pp. 2980-2985.
36.
Patane, F., Laschi, C., Miwa, H., Guglielmelli, E., Dario, P. and Takanishi, A.2004. ‘‘Design and Development of a Biologically-inspired Artificial Vestibular System for Robot Heads,’’ In: Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems(IROS 2004), 28 September-2 October, Sendal, Japan, Vol. 2, pp. 1317-1322.
37.
Pedrocchi, A. and Ferrigno, G.2004. ‘‘Model of Head-Neck Joint Fast Movements in the Frontal Plane,’’ Biological Cybernetics , 90:377-389.
38.
Rose, M., Keimer, R., Breitbach, E.J. and Campanile, L.F.2004. ‘‘Parallel Robots with Adaptronic Components ,’’ Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 15:763-769.
39.
Rudenko, O.V. and Sarvazyan, A.P.2006. ‘‘Wave Biomechanics of the Skeletal Muscle ,’’ Acoustical Physics, 52:720-732.
40.
Sabater, J.M., Garcia, N., Perez, C., Azorin, J.M., Saltaren, R.J. and Yime, E.2006. ‘‘Design and Analysis of a Spherical Humanoid Neck using Screw Theory,’’ In: Proceedings of 1st IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics , 20-22 February, Pisa, Italy, pp. 1166-1171.
41.
Saga, N.2007. ‘‘Development of a Tendon Driven System using a Pneumatic Balloon,’’ Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 18:171-174.
42.
Saito, T. and Ikeda, H.2007. ‘‘Development of Normally Closed Type of Magnetorheological Clutch and its Application to Safe Torque Control System of Human-Collaborative Robot,’’ Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 18:1181-1185.
43.
Sakagami, Y., Watanabe R., Aoyama, C., Matsunaga, S., Higaki, N. and Fujimura, K.2002. ‘‘The Intelligent ASIMO: System Overview and Integration,’’ In: Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 30 September-5 October, Lausanne, Switzerland, Vol.3, pp. 2478-2483.
44.
Sharkey, P.M., Murray, D.W. and Heuring, J.J.1997. ‘‘On the Kinematics of Robot Heads,’’IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 13:437-442.
45.
Shimada, M., Minato, T., Itakura, S. and Ishiguro, H.2006. ‘‘Evaluation of Android using Unconscious Recognition,’’ In: Proceedings of 6th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, 04-06 December, Genoa, Italy, pp. 157-162.
46.
Spexard, T.P., Hanheide, M. and Sagerer, G.2007. ‘‘Human-oriented Interaction with an Anthropomorphic Robot,’’ IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation , 23:852-862.
47.
Spiess, S. and Vincze, M.1998. ‘‘Comments on ‘‘On the Kinematics of Robot Heads,’’ IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 14:509-510.
48.
Tadesse, Y., Bergs, R., Priya, S., Stephanou, H., Popa, D. and Hanson, D.2006. ‘‘Piezoelectric Actuation and Sensing for Facial Expression Robotics,’’ Ferroelectrics, 345:13-25.
49.
Tadesse, Y. and Priya, S.2008. ‘‘Humanoid Face Utilizing Rotary Actuators and Piezoelectric Sensors,’’ In: Proceedings of IMECE2008, Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Fluids/Recent Advances in Engineering Applications, 31 October-6 November, Boston , Massachusetts, USA, Vol. 12, pp. 573-581.
50.
Tiejun, Z., Dalong, T. and Mingyang, Z.2005. ‘‘The Development of a Mobile Humanoid Robot with Varying Joint Stiffness Waist,’’ In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, 29 July to 01 August, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, Vol. 3, pp. 1402-1407.
51.
Toshima, I., Uematsu, H. and Hirahara, T.2003. ‘‘A Steerable Dummy Head that Tracks Three-Dimensional Head Movement: TeleHead,’’ Acoustical Science and Technology, 24:327-329.
52.
Wang, Z., Deurenberg, P., Wang, W., Pietrobelli, A., Baumgartner, R. and Heymsfield, S.1999. ‘‘Hydration of Fat-free Body Mass: Review and Critique of a Classic Body-Composition Constant,’’ American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 69:833-841.
53.
Wiguna, T., Heo, S., Park, H.C. and Goo, N.S.2009. ‘‘Design and Experimental Parameteric Study of a Fish Robot Actuated by Piezoelectric Actuators,’’Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 20:751-758.
54.
Yan, S., Liu, X., Xu, F. and Wang, J.2007. ‘‘A Gripper Actuated by a Pair of Differential SMA Springs,’’ Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 18:459-466.
55.
Yao, J. and Taylor, R.2003. ‘‘Assessing Accuracy Factors in Deformable 2D/3D Medical Image Registration using a Statistical Pelvis Model,’’ In: Proceedings of 9th IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision, 13-16 October, Nice, France, Vol. 2, pp. 1329-1334.
56.
Yuan, J. and Long, X.2003. ‘‘CCD-Area-based Autocollimator for Precision Small-Angle Measurement,’’ Review of Scientific Instruments, 74:1362-1365.
57.
Zafar, H., Nordh, E. and Eriksson, P.O.2002. ‘‘Spatiotemporal Consistency of Human Mandibular and Head-Neck Movement Trajectories during Jaw Opening-Closing Task, ’’ Experimental Brain Research, 146:70-76.
