Design and Analysis of a Chinese Medicine Based Humanoid Robotic Arm Massage System

This paper presents a humanoid robotic arm massage system with an aim toward satisfying the clinical requirements of pain relief on the waist and legs of older patients during Chinese medicinal massage. On the basis of an in-depth analysis regarding the characteristics of arm joints of the human body and Chinese medicinal massage theory, a humanoid robotic arm massage system was designed by adapting a bottom to top modular method. The combined finite element and kinematic analysis led to an improved performance according to repeated positioning accuracy, massage strength accuracy, and massage effect. The developed humanoid robotic arm was characterized by a compact structure, high precision, light quality, and good stiffness, achieving a good bearing capacity. Due to the PID controller, the numerical simulations and experimental results provided valuable insight into the development of Chinese medicinal massage robots and massage treatments for patients who suffer from lumbar muscle strain.