Development of a porcine thigh finite element model for evaluating the soft-tissue injuries caused by blunt impacts during human-robot interactions

The data concerning the tolerance of slight injuries during human-robot interactions is essential for setting necessary safety measures for robots. In this study, to provide a tool for investigating bruise tolerance, a porcine thigh finite element (FE) model was developed based on quasi-static and dynamic compression tests with living porcine subjects. The FE model demonstrated that strain concentrations occurred in the corresponding region, where the haematoxylin-eosin staining showed blood leaks in the harvested soft-tissue specimens from the impacted porcine subjects. Based on this correlation, the maximum principal strain has potential of being a tissue-level bruise injury metric.