An integrated study procedure on real-time estimation of time-varying multi-joint human arm viscoelasticity

This paper proposes an integrated procedure to study on real-time estimation of time-varying multi-joint human arm viscoelasticity. Estimating viscoelasticity of time-varying human multi-joint arms has been a challenging issue, particularly the uncertainty factor consisting of time-varying motor command from the central nervous system, measurement noises and modelling error of the rigid body dynamics. In general, the uncertainty factor is subject to non-Gaussian noise. In this paper, with a score function technique, a practical filter algorithm for estimating the multi-joint human arm viscoelasticity is proposed. The filter guarantees that all of the estimated elements of viscoelasticity are bounded. A lab-based experimental rig is set up to provide a real bench test to the theoretical development. It has been observed that the theoretical prediction is consistent with simulating real demos.