Application of robotics to palpation of injury of ligament-Development of a new method of knee instability test-

本研究的目的是将机器人技术应用于韧带损伤的触诊和开发一种新的膝关节不稳定性测试方法。首先，采用体外实验对犬膝关节外翻和前后不稳定进行了评价。该装置包含一个市场上的机器人手来组成一个运动，以给予犬的胫骨标本。通过位移传感器测量机械手的正确位置。载荷传感器安装在与犬胫骨接触的装置中，测量膝关节所受的载荷。实验结果表明，该机器人的载荷能力在外翻-内翻不稳定性试验中是足够的，但在前后不稳定性试验中是不足的。其次，设计并制作了一个更大的机械手。该机械手的尺寸与人类下肢的尺寸相同。负载能力为20kgf，足以进行人体膝关节不稳定性试验。机械手的运动速度约为每秒几厘米，比工厂一般使用的其他机械手要慢。这种缓慢的速度对病人的安全非常有用。第三，我们用这个新机器人进行了人体膝盖不稳定性测试。机器人手与患者腿之间的连接装置是为特殊用途而设计的。结果表明，在各种膝关节不稳定性试验中，机械手的运动误差小，承载能力充足。

The aim of this research project is an application of robotics to palpation of injury of ligament and development of a new method of knee instability test. First, in vitro experiments were conducted to evaluate the valgus-varus and anterior-posterior instability using some canine knee joints. The apparatus contains a robot hand on the market to compose a motion to give the tibia of the canine specimens. The correct position of the robot hand was measured by the displacement transducer. The load induced on the knee was measured by load transducer fixed in the device which contacts the canine tibia. The results of this experiments showed the capacity of loading of this robot is sufficient in the valgus-varus instability test but insufficient in the anterior-posterior instability test. Secondly an larger robot hand was designed and made. The scale of this robot hand was the same as that of human lower limb. The capacity of loading was 20kgf which is sufficient to human knee instability tests. The speed of the motion of the robot hand is about a few centimeter per second which is rather slower than other robot hand used in the factory generally. This slow speed is very useful for safety of the patients. Thirdly we tried the human knee instability tests using this new robot. The device of connection between the robot hand and the leg of patients was designed for special use. The results showed that the motion error of robot hand is small and the capacity of loading is sufficient in all kind of knee instability tests.