Mechanical Model for Human Balancing on Rolling Balance Board

Abstract

A two-degree-of-freedom mechanical model was developed to analyze human balancing on rolling balance board in the frontal plane. The human nervous system is modeled as a proportionalderivative controller with constant feedback delay. The radius R of the wheels and the board distance h measured from the center of the wheel are adjustable parameters. Simulation results using the mechanical model were compared with real balancing trials recorded by an OptiTrack motion capture system. The goal of the paper is to investigate whether the two-degree-of-freedom model is accurate enough to model the balancing task and to introduce a stabilometry parameter in order to characterize balancing skill in case of different set of R and h. The conclusion is that the angle of the upper body and the angle of the head also play an important role in the balancing process therefore a three- or four-degree-of-freedom model is more appropriate.

Using a spherical inverted pendulum and statokinesigram for modeling and evaluating quiet standing posture

“…The parallel links were connected with hinges and supported on the floor. A similar model was introduced in, 16 in which the proposed models were used to analyze human balance on a rolling board. Unlike our proposal, these models did not consider the relation between the motions occurring in sagittal and frontal planes, but dealt with each motion separately.…”