Dynamic primitives facilitate manipulating a whip

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nah, Moses C.
Other Authors: Neville Hogan.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127121
_version_ 1811092720792371200
author Nah, Moses C.
author2 Neville Hogan.
author_facet Neville Hogan.
Nah, Moses C.
author_sort Nah, Moses C.
collection MIT
description Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020
first_indexed 2024-09-23T15:23:14Z
format Thesis
id mit-1721.1/127121
institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
language eng
last_indexed 2024-09-23T15:23:14Z
publishDate 2020
publisher Massachusetts Institute of Technology
record_format dspace
spelling mit-1721.1/1271212020-09-04T03:07:34Z Dynamic primitives facilitate manipulating a whip Nah, Moses C. Neville Hogan. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Mechanical Engineering. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020 Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 127-133). Human dexterity far exceeds that of modern robots, despite a much slower neuromuscular system. Understanding how this is accomplished may lead to improved robot control. The slow neuromuscular system of humans implies that prediction based on some form of internal model plays a prominent role. However, the nature of the model itself remains unclear. To address this problem, we focused on one of the most complex and exotic tools humans can manipulate -- a whip. We tested (in simulation) whether a distant target could be reached with a whip using a (small) number of dynamic primitives, whose parameters could be learned through optimization. This approach was able to manage the complexity of an (extremely) high degree-of-freedom system and discovered the optimal parameters of the upper-limb movement that achieved the task. A detailed model of the whip dynamics was not needed for this approach, which thereby significantly relieved the computational burden of task representation and performance optimization. These results support our hypothesis that composing control using dynamic motor primitives may be a strategy which humans use to enable their remarkable dexterity. A similar approach may contribute to improved robot control.. by Moses C. Nah. S.M. S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering 2020-09-03T17:47:53Z 2020-09-03T17:47:53Z 2020 2020 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127121 1191836862 eng MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 133 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering.
Nah, Moses C.
Dynamic primitives facilitate manipulating a whip
title Dynamic primitives facilitate manipulating a whip
title_full Dynamic primitives facilitate manipulating a whip
title_fullStr Dynamic primitives facilitate manipulating a whip
title_full_unstemmed Dynamic primitives facilitate manipulating a whip
title_short Dynamic primitives facilitate manipulating a whip
title_sort dynamic primitives facilitate manipulating a whip
topic Mechanical Engineering.
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127121
work_keys_str_mv AT nahmosesc dynamicprimitivesfacilitatemanipulatingawhip