Bi-manual Stabilization of the Cervical Spine for Safe Physical Human-Robot Interaction in Rolling Maneuvers
The neck, specifically the cervical spine, is a highly fragile and mobile part of the body with a high risk of catastrophic injury. Whether someone is injured on a battlefield, in a natural disaster, or in an athletic event, great care is always taken with the cervical spine when transporting, rolling, or moving the patient. In this work, we present an algorithm and adaptations for bi-manual robots to stabilize the cervical spine during rolling maneuvers. We investigate techniques to maximize grip strength within safety bounds and present a control approach for proper neck rotation. We found that with our approach, a bi-manual robot is capable of achieving human-level performance in maintaining target rotational alignments. The axial alignment for the robot with prediction was within .21 degrees of human novices.