Variable combination of feed-forward and feedback manners for set-point control of a musculoskeletal arm considering the maximum exertable muscular force

In this paper, our previously proposed set-point control method for a musculoskeletal system is improved to reduce required muscular forces and to avoid a saturation of muscular forces during movement. The previous method is robust against a considerable time-delay in sensory information, but it still requires large muscular forces to accomplish a desired position, and the maximum exertable muscular force has not yet been taken into consideration. To cope with these two issues, two variable parameters are newly introduced. One is for changing the combination ratio of feed-forward and feedback controllers to reduce necessary muscular forces. The other is for avoiding the saturation of muscular forces during movement The effectiveness of the proposed controller is demonstrated through several numerical simulation results.