Overview

Written in honour of Henk Stassen, one of the most prolific contributors to this research and literature, this book provides an up-to-date summary on human control of mechanical things. This includes people controlling the mechanical movements of their own limbs, extensions of their limbs such as prostheses (limb replacements), orthoses (limb braces), hand tools, or telemanipulators. It also consists of people controlling the mechanical movements of vehicles that they ride in such as aircraft, automobiles and trains. Finally, it includes movements of discrete products through manufacturing plants, or chemicals and other fluids through process plants such as refineries or nuclear power stations. Within academe or industry, these various types of human control are usually found in very different research and engineering communities. The first is generally regarded as a subfield of biomechanics and more generally of biomedical engineering - the hospital or medical clinic. Industry has mostly ignored the challenges of prosthetics and orthotics because there is not so much money to be made; payers are typically third party insurers of the government itself. In contrast, the problems of controlling vehicles (particularly aircraft and military vehicles) and industrial plants is what has driven the field of control - both the science and technology. In the field of robotics, where biomechanics is obviously a model, industry has experienced the effects of expecting too much too soon, and in some cases overinvesting and later being forced to withdraw in disappointment.

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9780805821901

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The editors have done an excellent job of weaving the chapters together, of bringing perspective, and of encouraging readers to think in more generalist terms about human-machine systems such as those found in rehabilitation R&D. -Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development

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