Innovative Design Research on a Cable-Driven Humanoid Robotic Arm

The humanoid robotic arm aims to achieve multi-dimensional comprehensive similarity with the human arm in kinematics, dynamics, and physiological structure, in order to enhance human-robot collaboration capabilities and skill learning efficiency, and to realize the in-situ replacement of manual operations, holding broad application prospects. In response to the demands of human-robot interaction and unstructured environment perception, this paper, based on the analysis of the human skeletal structure and muscle driving characteristics, and considering the enveloping effect of ligaments and driving muscles on human joints, proposes a joint configuration driven by cables arranged along a spherical surface, completing the configuration design of the cable-driven humanoid robotic arm. Using spherical projection, the kinematic modeling of each joint of the cable-driven humanoid robotic arm is completed, and the kinematic performance, including workspace, is verified. The shoulder joint can achieve an inclination angle of at least 108° in any direction, with a spin angle range of at least 180°; the elbow joint has a movable range of 133°; the wrist joint can achieve an inclination angle of at least 49.5° in any direction, with a spin angle range of at least 180°, which is similar to the workspace of the human arm.