Human balancing on rolling balance board in the sagittal plane is analyzed in this paper. The balance board has adjustable geometry: the radius R of the wheels and the elevation h between the top of the wheels and the board can be changed. These two parameters have a great influence on the stability of standing on the board. The human body was modeled by a single inverted pendulum, while the balance board was considered by its actual mechanical properties in the mechanical model. It was assumed that the central nervous system (CNS) controls by signals proportional to the angle and angular velocity of the human body and the balance board and is able to tune the gains with 40% accuracy during the balancing process. Considering the reaction time, CNS was modeled as a delayed PD feedback with four control gains. There exist a critical time delay above which no control gains could stabilize the system. Four balance board was chosen with different wheel radius and the critical time delay was computed for each balance board geometry. Eight healthy individuals were asked to participate on experiments, their task was to perform 60 s long balancing trials on each balance board. The reaction time of the participants was estimated by comparing the numerical results obtained for the critical time delay and their successful and unsuccessful balancing trials. The reaction times are in the range of 0.10-0.14 s which are in good agreement with the literature.


Estimation of Reaction Time During Human Balancing on Rolling Balance Board Based on Mechanical Models

Division / Sponsors: 
Design Engineering Division and Computers & Information In Engineering Division


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2020/volume/83907

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