Physiological Models MODELING OF MULTI-JOINT MOTOR SYSTEMS

Abstract. A model of elastic mechanical systems is presented in the form of a network of Constraint equations ezpressing the ge-ometrical relations among component elements and their steady-state mechanical behavior. The model takes into account the non-linear features of motor system geometry and is used to represent mechanical interactions with the environment as well as to de-rive appropriate patterns of control inputs given a wide variety of motor tasks. This approach can be applied to the analysis of biological motor systems. Introduct ion Several experimental investigations of biological systems [1,3,9,10] have focused on the role of muscle mechanical properties in motor control, suggesting that a muscle is mechanically analogous to a “tunable ” spring: i.e. it is characterized by a set of integrable functions between length and tension at steady state. The neura