Computational tool for comparison of kinematic mechanisms and commonly used kinematic models

Accurate, reliable, and reproducible methods to measure the movements of human joints have been elusive. Currently, three-dimensional recording methods are used to track the motion of one segment relative to another as the joint moves. Six parameters describe the moving segment`s location and orientation relative to the reference segment: three translations (x, y, and z) and three rotations (yaw, pitch and roll) in the reference frame. The raw data can be difficult to interpret. For this reason, several methods have been developed to measure the motion of human joints and to describe the resulting data. For example, instant helical axes or screw deviation axes (Kinzell et al., 1972), the Joint Coordinate System of Grood and Suntay (1983), and the Euler angle method have been used to describe the movements of bones relative to each other. None of these methods takes into account the physical kinematic mechanism producing the joint motion. More recently, Lupichuk (1995) has developed an algorithm to find, for an arbitrary revolute, the axis` position and orientation in three- dimensional space. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages in analyzing joint kinematics. The authors have developed software to provide a means of comparing these methods for arbitrary, single degree of freedom, kinematic mechanisms. Our objective is to demonstrate the software and to show how it can be used to compare the results from the different kinematic models as they are applied to specific kinematic mechanisms