Mastication Robot of Crank Actuation

Abstract

A life-sized masticatory robot with a 6RSS parallel mechanism is discussed within this chapter. The robot is intended to simulate human chewing in order to evaluate food properties during the chewing process. A robotic mechanism is proposed, the kinematic parameters of which are defined according to biomechanical research findings together with actual measurements of the human masticatory system. In order that a given mandibular trajectory was able to be tracked, the closed-form solution to the inverse kinematics of the robot is found for joint actuations whereas differential kinematics is derived in Jacobian matrices. Major specifications of the robot are presented which include details of the motion control system employed. Experimental results for free chewing, soft-food chewing, and hard-food chewing are reported. Each of these food groups were simulated using foam and hard objects. The crank actuations and driving torques required for the chewing of various foods are compared and finally, a simulation model in SimMechanics is presented.

Sections 4.1~4.4 and 4.8 are reprinted from Xu WL, Torrance J, Chen BQ, Potgieter J, Bronlund J and Pap JS (2008) Kinematics and experiments of a life-sized masticatory robot for characterizing food texture. IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. 55:2121-2132, with permission from IEEE.