Method to generate distribution maps of the material parameters of the human body using robotic and dynamic simulation systems

The present paper proposes a new method by which to generate distribution maps of the material parameters of the human body for use in medical applications. In addition, a system design concept to realize the proposed method is presented, wherein the system integrates a robotic component and a numerical simulation component. The robotic component is used to measure the contact force and displacement at each point on the human body contacted by a robotic probe. The numerical simulation component generates an optimal distribution map of the material parameters using the proposed method, where three data are used, namely, (1) the measured data from the robotic part, (2) simulated deformation data obtained by the finite element method, and (3) distribution map data obtained using distribution models. In order to validate the proposed method, we implemented a virtual system including a sensing robot and a human body. We conducted numerical simulation experiments using this virtual system, and the results of experiments showed that optimal distribution maps were accurately generated.