Advances in Service and Industrial

Robotics: Proceedings of the 26th

International Conference on Robotics in
Alpe-Adria-Danube Region, RAAD 2017
1st Edition Carlo Ferraresi
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-service-and-industrial-robotics-proceedin
gs-of-the-26th-international-conference-on-robotics-in-alpe-adria-danube-region-raad-
2017-1st-edition-carlo-ferraresi/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Advances in Service and Industrial Robotics:

Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on
Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube Region (RAAD 2019)
Karsten Berns
https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-service-and-
industrial-robotics-proceedings-of-the-28th-international-
conference-on-robotics-in-alpe-adria-danube-region-
raad-2019-karsten-berns/

Advances in Service and Industrial Robotics:

Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on
Robotics in Alpe-Adria Danube Region (RAAD 2018) Nikos
A. Aspragathos
https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-service-and-
industrial-robotics-proceedings-of-the-27th-international-
conference-on-robotics-in-alpe-adria-danube-region-
raad-2018-nikos-a-aspragathos/

New Advances in Mechanisms, Mechanical Transmissions

and Robotics: Proceedings of The Joint International
Conference of the XII International Conference on
Mechanisms and Mechanical Transmissions (MTM) and the
XXIII International Conference on Robotics (R 1st
https://textbookfull.com/product/new-advances-in-mechanisms-
mechanical-transmissions-and-robotics-proceedings-of-the-joint-
Edition Burkhard Corves
international-conference-of-the-xii-international-conference-on-
mechanisms-and-mechanical-transmissions-mtm/

Recent Developments in Mechatronics and Intelligent

Robotics: Proceedings of the International Conference
on Mechatronics and Intelligent Robotics (ICMIR2017) -
Volume 1 1st Edition Feng Qiao
https://textbookfull.com/product/recent-developments-in-
mechatronics-and-intelligent-robotics-proceedings-of-the-
international-conference-on-mechatronics-and-intelligent-
Recent Developments in Mechatronics and Intelligent
Robotics: Proceedings of the International Conference
on Mechatronics and Intelligent Robotics (ICMIR2017) –
Volume 2 1st Edition Feng Qiao
https://textbookfull.com/product/recent-developments-in-
mechatronics-and-intelligent-robotics-proceedings-of-the-
international-conference-on-mechatronics-and-intelligent-
robotics-icmir2017-volume-2-1st-edition-feng-qiao/

Field and Service Robotics Results of the 10th

International Conference 1st Edition David S.
Wettergreen

https://textbookfull.com/product/field-and-service-robotics-
results-of-the-10th-international-conference-1st-edition-david-s-
wettergreen/

New Trends in Medical and Service Robotics: Advances in

Theory and Practice Giuseppe Carbone

https://textbookfull.com/product/new-trends-in-medical-and-
service-robotics-advances-in-theory-and-practice-giuseppe-
carbone/

Robotics and Mechatronics Proceedings of the 6th IFToMM

International Symposium on Robotics and Mechatronics
ISRM 2019 Chin-Hsing Kuo

https://textbookfull.com/product/robotics-and-mechatronics-
proceedings-of-the-6th-iftomm-international-symposium-on-
robotics-and-mechatronics-isrm-2019-chin-hsing-kuo/

Advances in Engineering Networks: Proceedings of the

12th International Conference on Industrial Engineering
and Industrial Management Rodolfo De Castro

https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-engineering-
networks-proceedings-of-the-12th-international-conference-on-
industrial-engineering-and-industrial-management-rodolfo-de-
Mechanisms and Machine Science 49

Carlo Ferraresi
Giuseppe Quaglia Editors

Advances in Service
and Industrial
Robotics
Proceedings of the 26th International
Conference on Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube
Region, RAAD 2017
Mechanisms and Machine Science

Volume 49

Series editor
Marco Ceccarelli
LARM: Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics
DICeM: University of Cassino and South Latium
Via Di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino (Fr), Italy
e-mail: ceccarelli@unicas.it
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8779
Carlo Ferraresi Giuseppe Quaglia
•

Editors

Advances in Service
and Industrial Robotics
Proceedings of the 26th International
Conference on Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube
Region, RAAD 2017

123
Editors
Carlo Ferraresi Giuseppe Quaglia
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Department of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering Engineering
Politecnico di Torino Politecnico di Torino
Turin Turin
Italy Italy

ISSN 2211-0984 ISSN 2211-0992 (electronic)

Mechanisms and Machine Science
ISBN 978-3-319-61275-1 ISBN 978-3-319-61276-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-61276-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017943852

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or
for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface

The 26th International Conference on Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube Region,

RAAD 2017, will be held in the Technical University Politecnico di Torino, Turin,
Italy, on June 21–23, 2017. The conference brought together academic and industry
researchers in Robotics from 30 countries, the majority of them affiliated to the
Alpe-Adria-Danube Region, and their worldwide partners in a collegial and stim-
ulating environment.
Human activities in many sectors are currently supported or replaced by robots,
which range from standard robots for industrial applications to service and auton-
omous robots for complex activities. The great versatility and flexibility of nowa-
days robots allows them to be employed in numerous sectors, to perform a diversity
of tasks.
According to its tradition, RAAD 2017 covered all important areas of research,
development, and innovation in Robotics, including new applications and trends
such as unmanned aerial vehicles, personal robots for ambient assisted living,
human–robot collaboration and interaction, bio-inspired and cognitive robots,
visual servoing of robot motion, and cloud robotics.
The conference was arranged with Tracks, which cover specific topics of
Robotics and which originated corresponding technical sessions. Each Track was
managed by chairpersons, who proposed and promoted its topic, collected the
related papers, and chaired the corresponding conference sessions. This allowed
enriching the conference with subjects representing the ultimate frontier of the
Robotics research. The Tracks organized in RAAD 2017 were as follows:
• Optimization-based methods for planning and control of environment-aware
robotic systems
• Exoskeletons and body shells: prospective with new materials, design and brain
control
• UAV: innovation and new application fields in the next future
• Technological rehabilitation
• Safety related devices and applications
• Automation and robotics for vehicles

v
vi Preface

• Control, identification and calibration of robotic systems

• Wearable robotic systems for motion assistance
• Humanoids & cognitive systems
Therefore, a special acknowledgment is due to all Track Chairs which gave their
valuable collaboration to this task:
Marco Gabiccini, Alberto Rovetta, Marco Piras, Paolo Maggiore, Alberto
Borboni, Giuseppe Carbone, Med Amine Laribi, Francesco Timpone, Mauro
Velardocchia, Andreas Müller, Marina Indri, Hubert Gattringer, Tadej Petrič,
Karsten Berns, Aleksandar Rodić.
The total number of papers was completed with articles authored by researchers
from the RAAD community but also from other European and extra-European
Countries, bringing further enrichment of conference topics.
Consequently, the following subjects completed the whole of the conference:
• Robot kinematics and dynamics
• Vision systems
• Mobile robots and path planning
• Industrial applications
• Robotic grippers
• Biomedical applications
This book collects 111 scientific papers and is articulated in 16 chapters, which
reflect the 24 technical sessions of the conference. All papers have been selected
through an accurate peer review process, which considered their relevance, novelty,
clarity, and which guaranteed the high quality level of this work.
The topics are presented in a sequence starting from the classical robotic sub-
jects, such as kinematics, dynamics, structures, control, and ending to frontier
topics, such as human–robot interaction and biomedical applications.
We are confident that any researcher involved in the robotic field will find this
book an extraordinary and up-to-date window on the last findings in this area.

June 2017 Carlo Ferraresi

Giuseppe Quaglia
Organization

General Chair

Carlo Ferraresi Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Co-chair

Giuseppe Quaglia Politecnico di Torino, Italy

International Scientific Committee

Nikos Aspragathos University of Patras, Greece

Theodor Borangiu Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania
Marco Ceccarelli University of Cassino and South Latium, Italy
Karol Dobrovodský Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
Carlo Ferraresi Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Štefan Havlík Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
Nick Andrei Ivanescu Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania
Roman Kamnik University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Berns Karsten University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
Gernot Kronreif ACMIT GmbH, Austria
Andreas Mueller Johannes Kepler University, Austria
Ivan Petrović University of Zagreb, Croatia
Doina Pîsla Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Aleksandar Rodić Institute Mihajlo Pupin, Serbia
Cesare Rossi University of Napoli, Italy
József Tar Óbuda University, Hungary
Said Zeghloul Université de Poitiers, France
Leon Žlajpah Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia

vii
viii Organization

Advisory Board

Guido Belforte Politecnico di Torino, Italy

János F. Bitó Centre of Robotics and Automation, Hungary
Peter Kopacek Vienna University of Technology, Austria
Alberto Rovetta Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Imre J. Rudas Óbuda University, Hungary

Organizing Committee

Luca Bruzzone University of Genova, Italy

Giuseppe Carbone University of Cassino and South Latium, Italy
Marco Ceccarelli University of Cassino and South Latium, Italy
Alessandro Gasparetto University of Udine, Italy
Daniela Maffiodo Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Andrea Manuello Bertetto University of Cagliari, Italy
Giuseppe Quaglia Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Cesare Rossi University of Napoli, Italy

General Secretary

Luca Bruzzone University of Genova, Italy

Contents

Robot Kinematics and Dynamics

Comparative Analysis of Quasi-Differential Approaches
in Inverse Kinematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Bertalan Csanádi, János F. Bitó, Imre J. Rudas, and József K. Tar
A Novel Single-Loop Decoupled Schoenflies-Motion Generator:
Concept and Kinematics Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Raffaele Di Gregorio
A Comparative Study of Three Manipulator Performance Measures . . . . 19
Vassilis C. Moulianitis, Eleftherios F. Katrantzis, Nikos A. Stravopodis,
and Nikos A. Aspragathos
Analysis of Constraint Singularities of a 2-DOF Spatial
Parallel Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Stefano Mauro and Gabriele Biondi
Central Active Mechanism for Unmanned Space Docking . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Stefano Mauro, Tharek Mohtar, Stefano Pastorelli, and Massimo Sorli
On the Mechatronic Design of a Low-Cost 6-DoFs Parallel
Kinematic Manipulator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Hermes Giberti, Enrico Fiore, and Alessansdro Saccomani
Behaviour-Based Inverse Kinematics Solver on FPGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Alexander Köpper and Karsten Berns
A Novel Reconfigurable 3-URU Parallel Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Luca Carbonari, David Corinaldi, Matteo Palpacelli, Giacomo Palmieri,
and Massimo Callegari
Mechatronic Design and Control of a 3-RPS Parallel Manipulator . . . . 74
Giorgio Figliolini, Chiara Lanni, Pierluigi Rea, and Tommaso Gallinelli

ix
x Contents

Control, Identification and Calibration of Robotic Systems

Force Analysis for the Impact Between a Rod and Granular
Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Memduh Arsalan, Hamid Ghaednia, Dan B. Marghitu,
and Dorian Cojocaru
Cooperative Distance Measurement for an Anti-aircraft Battery . . . . . . 95
Karol Dobrovodský and Pavel Andris
Collision Avoidance of Robots by Artificial Force Field Around
Geometric Primitives Using Two Range Image Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Christian Thormann and Alexander Winkler
Using Compliancy for Autonomous Execution of Path
Following Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Leon Žlajpah and Nejc Likar
Study Concerning a Robotic System with Matlab/OpenCV
Post-processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Victor Constantin, Ciprian Ion Rizescu, Mihai Ciocan, and Dana Rizescu
Output Control of a Class of Hyper-redundant Robots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Mircea Ivanescu, Mircea Nitulescu, Nguyen Van Dong Hai,
and Mihaela Florescu
Using Virtual Sensors in Industrial Manipulators for Service
Algorithms Like Payload Checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Marina Indri and Stefano Trapani
Robust Motion Control of a Soft Robotic System
Using Fractional Order Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Bastian Deutschmann, Christian Ott, Concepcion A. Monje,
and Carlos Balaguer
FloBaRoID — A Software Package for the Identification
of Robot Dynamics Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Stefan Bethge, Jörn Malzahn, Nikolaos Tsagarakis,
and Darwin Caldwell
Implementation of a Fractional-Order Control
for Robotic Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Luca Bruzzone, Vittorio Belotti, and Pietro Fanghella
Real-Time Computation of Inexact Minimum-Energy
Trajectories Using Parametric Sensitivities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Alexander Reiter, Hubert Gattringer, and Andreas Müller
Contents xi

Sensor-Based Loops and Branches for Playback-Programmed

Robot Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Michael Riedl, Eric M. Orendt, and Dominik Henrich
On Latencies and Noise Effects in Vision-Based Control
of Mobile Robots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Mohammad M. Aref, Juho Vihonen, Reza Ghabcheloo, and Jouni Mattila
A Novel Method for Geometric Robot Calibration Using Laser
Pointer and Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Hubert Gattringer, Matthias Neubauer, Dominik Kaserer,
and Andreas Müller
Redundant Robotic Manipulator Path Planning for Real-Time
Obstacle and Self-Collision Avoidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Tuomo Kivelä, Jouni Mattila, Jussi Puura, and Sirpa Launis
A Low-Cost Experimental Device for Compliant Physical
Human-Robot Interaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Daniel Rácz, Mátyás Takács, Péter Galambos, and János Somló
Using Spring-Damper Elements to Support Human-Like
Push Recovery Motions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Ruth Malin Kopitzsch Schemschat and Katja Mombaur
Validation of Relevant Parameters of Sensitive Manipulators
for Human-Robot Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
David Kirschner, Andreas Schlotzhauer, Mathias Brandstötter,
and Michael Hofbaur

Optimization-Based Methods for Planning and Control

of Environment-Aware Robotic Systems
Preliminary Design of an Electropneumatic Automatic Machine
for Herbaceous Grafting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Guido Belforte, Gabriella Eula, Terenziano Raparelli, Silvia Sirolli,
Pietro Piccarolo, Paolo Gay, Davide Ricauda Aimonino,
and Lorenzo Comba
A Falling Motion Strategy for Humanoids Based on Motion
Primitives of Human Falling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Libo Meng, Zhangguo Yu, Weimin Zhang, Xuechao Chen,
Marco Ceccarelli, and Qiang Huang
Legged Robot Strategies for Climbing Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
M. Nițulescu, M. Ivănescu, S. Mănoiu-Olaru, and V.D.H. Nguyen
Kinematic Path Control of a Redundant Robot Arm in
Sliding Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Evgeniy Krastev
xii Contents

Precise Positioning of a Robotic Arm Manipulator Using Stereo

Computer Vision and Iterative Learning Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Kaloyan Yovchev, Denis Chikurtev, Nayden Chivarov,
and Nedko Shivarov
A Receding Horizon Push Recovery Strategy for Balancing
the iCub Humanoid Robot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Stefano Dafarra, Francesco Romano, and Francesco Nori
Neural Networks for Real-Time, Probabilistic Obstacle Detection . . . . . 306
Tobias Werner, Josua Bloeß, and Dominik Henrich

Vision Systems
Cloud Robot Vision Services Extend High-Performance
Computing Capabilities of Robot Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Florin Daniel Anton, Theodor Borangiu, Silvia Anton, and Silviu Raileanu
A Robotic 3D Vision System for Automatic Cranial
Prostheses Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Maria Cristina Valigi, Silvia Logozzo, and Gabriele Canella
Automated, Depth Sensor Based Object Detection and Path
Planning for Robot-Aided 3D Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Jakob Ziegler, Hubert Gattringer, Dominik Kaserer, and Andreas Müller
Collision Avoidance System for Collaborative Robotics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Stefano Mauro, Leonardo Sabatino Scimmi, and Stefano Pastorelli

Mobile Robots and Path Planning

Design and Construction of a Demonstrative HeritageBot Platform . . . . 355
Marco Ceccarelli, Daniele Cafolla, Matteo Russo, and Giuseppe Carbone
Estimation of the Traversal Time for a Fleet of Industrial
Transport Robots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Clemens Mühlbacher, Stefan Gspandl, Micheal Reip,
and Gerald Steinbauer
Adapting Edge Weights for Optimal Paths in a Navigation Graph . . . . 372
Clemens Mühlbacher, Stefan Gspandl, Micheal Reip,
and Gerald Steinbauer
Advanced Modelling Techniques for Flexible Robotic Systems . . . . . . . . 381
Mariapaola D’Imperio, Cristiano Pizzamiglio, Daniele Ludovico,
Darwin G. Caldwell, Giancarlo Genta, and Ferdinando Cannella
Autonomous Mobile Manipulation Using ROS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Heiko Engemann, Patrick Wiesen, Stephan Kallweit,
Harshavardhan Deshpande, and Josef Schleupen
Contents xiii

Automation and Robotics for Vehicles

Team of Pneumatic ASi-Controlled Climber Robots
for Ships Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Enrico Ravina
Elasto-Kinematic Characteristics of Car Suspensions
with Magneto-Rheological Bushings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Renato Brancati, Giandomenico Di Massa, Ernesto Rocca, Cesare Rossi,
Sergio Savino, and Francesco Timpone
Delay-Dependent Criteria for Robust Dynamic Stability Control
of Articulated Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Mojtaba Sharifzadeh, Arash Farnam, Adolfo Senatore,
Francesco Timpone, and Ahmad Akbari
Comparison of Modelling Tools for the Assessment of the Parameters
of Driving Assistance Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Flavio Farroni, Guido Fusco, Luigi Pariota, Sebastian Rosario Pastore,
Aleksandr Sakhnevych, and Francesco Timpone
Modeling, Simulation and Control of a 4WD Electric Vehicle
with In-Wheel Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
Raffaele Iervolino and Aleksandr Sakhnevych
Path Tracking Control for Autonomous Driving Applications . . . . . . . . 456
Antonio Tota, Mauro Velardocchia, and Levent Güvenç

UAV: Innovation and New Application Fields in the Next Future

Electromagnetic Characterization of Installed Antennas
Through UAVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Irene Aicardi, Pietro Bolli, Andrea Maria Lingua, Fabio Paonessa,
Marco Piras, and Giuseppe Virone
Remote Sensing from RPAS in Agriculture: An Overview
of Expectations and Unanswered Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
Enrico Borgogno Mondino
A Self-adapting Method for 3D Environment Exploration Inspired
by Swarm Behaviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
Ján Zelenka, Tomáš Kasanický, and Ivana Budinská
Analysis & Modelling of Powertrain Components for an Efficient
UAV Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Mario Silvagni, Marcello Chiaberge, and Federico Tessari
Camera Selection and Flight Planning for Post Processing 3D
Reconstruction Automatization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
Mario Silvagni, Marcello Chiaberge, and Abdalla Osman
xiv Contents

A Modular Cloud Robotics Architecture for Data Management

and Mission Handling of Unmanned Robotic Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
Mario Silvagni, Marcello Chiaberge, Claudio Sanguedolce,
and Gianluca Dara
Application of an Inspection Robot Composed by Collaborative
Terrestrial and Aerial Modules for an Operation in Agriculture . . . . . . 539
Roberto Grassi, Pierluigi Rea, Erika Ottaviano, and Paolo Maggiore

Industrial Applications
Airbrush Robotic Painting System: Experimental Validation
of a Colour Spray Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Lorenzo Scalera, Enrico Mazzon, Paolo Gallina,
and Alessandro Gasparetto
Spring Design for Motor Torque Reduction
in Articulated Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
Paolo Boscariol, Giovanni Boschetti, Paolo Gallina,
and Chiara Passarini
A Robotic Design for a MIM Based Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Hermes Giberti and Luca Sbaglia
Robust One-Shot Robot Programming by Demonstration
Using Entity-Based Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
Eric M. Orendt, Michael Riedl, and Dominik Henrich
The “Robot Mechanics” Course Experience at Politecnico di Milano . . . . 583
Hermes Giberti and Enrico Fiore
Mechatronic Design and Prototype of a 4-DOFs Hot-Wire CNC
Cutting Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
Giorgio Figliolini, Pierluigi Rea, and Carlo Cocomello

Robotic Grippers
Development of a NEMS-Technology Based Nano Gripper . . . . . . . . . . . 601
Andrea Veroli, Alessio Buzzin, Rocco Crescenzi, Fabrizio Frezza,
Giampiero de Cesare, Vito D’Andrea, Francesco Mura, Matteo Verotti,
Alden Dochshanov, and Nicola Pio Belfiore
A 3-Finger Robotic Gripper for Grasping Fabrics Based
on Cams-Followers Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
Panagiotis N. Koustoumpardis, Sotiris Smyrnis, and Nikos A. Aspragathos
Experimental Results for QuBu Gripper: A 3-Jaw Electric Gripper. . . . 621
Giuseppe Quaglia and Luca Girolamo Butera
Contents xv

Experimental Evaluation and Comparison of Low-Cost Adaptive

Mechatronic Grippers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
Giovanni Carabin, Ilaria Palomba, Dominik Matt, and Renato Vidoni
The Experience at University of L’Aquila on Shape Memory
Alloys Actuators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
Francesco Durante, Pierluigi Beomonte Zobel, and Terenziano Raparelli

Humanoids & Cognitive Systems

Human Robot Interaction Using Dynamic Hand Gestures . . . . . . . . . . . 649
Zuhair Zafar, Daniel Alejandro Salazar, Salah Al-Darraji, Djordje Urukalo,
Karsten Berns, and Aleksandar Rodić
Ability of Humanoid Robot to Perform Emotional Body Gestures . . . . . 657
Djordje Urukalo, Ljubinko Kevac, Zuhair Zafar, Salah Al-Darraji,
Aleksandar Rodić, and Karsten Berns
Supporting a Human-Aware World Model Through Sensor Fusion . . . . 665
Dominik Riedelbauch, Tobias Werner, and Dominik Henrich
Interactive Communication Between Human and Robot
Using Nonverbal Cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
Salah Al-Darraji, Zuhair Zafar, Karsten Berns, Djordje Urukalo,
and Aleksandar Rodić
Building of Hyper-redundant Under-Actuated Soft Robotic
Arm with 20 DOF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
Ilija Stevanović, Aleksandar Rodić, Miloš Jovanović, and Marija Tomić

Safety Related Devices and Applications

Structure Optimization of the Cable Driven Legs Trainer. . . . . . . . . . . . 691
Houssein Lamine, Med Amine Laribi, Sami Bennour, Lotfi Romdhane,
and Said Zeghloul
A Novel Kinematic of a 4 d.o.fs Haptic Device Based on the Delta
Robot Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
Houssem Saafi, Celestin Preault, Med Amine Laribi, and Said Zeghloul
Design and Operation of a Novel Hexapod Robot
for Surveillance Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
Fernando Gomez-Bravo, Pablo Villadoniga, and Giuseppe Carbone
xvi Contents

Exoskeletons and Body Shells: Prospectives with New Materials,

Design and Brain Control
Design and Lab Tests of a Scaled Leg Exoskeleton
with Electric Actuators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
Cristian A. Iancu, Marco Ceccarelli, and Erwin-Christian Lovasz
Textile Rotary Pneumatic Actuator for Rehabilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
Terenziano Raparelli, Alexandre Ivanov, and Fabio Eduardo Palladino
Neural and Physiological Measures to Classify User’s Intention
and Control Exoskeletons for Rehabilitation or Assistance:
The Experience @NearLab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
Simona Ferrante, Emilia Ambrosini, Claudia Casellato, Marta Gandolla,
Alessandra Pedrocchi, and Giancarlo Ferrigno
Lower Limb Exoskeleton with Hybrid Pneumaticaly Assisted
Electric Drive: Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
Igor Orlov, Anton Aliseychik, Elena Kolesnichenko, Vladimir Pavlovsky,
Dmitry Gribkov, and Alexey Podoprosvetov

Wearable Robotic Systems for Motion Assistance

Exoskeleton for Gait Training in Spinal Cord Injured People:
Clinical Analysis and Ethical Dilemmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
Luciano Bissolotti, Paola Zuccher, Andrea Zenorini, Sonia Chiari,
Paolo Gaffurini, Armando Pasini, and Federico Nicoli
Wearable Hearing Support System Tapping Toward Sound Source. . . . 766
Ryuichi Shimoyama and I. Syou
Qualitative Assessment of a Clutch-Actuated Ankle Exoskeleton . . . . . . 778
Miha Dežman, Jan Babič, and Andrej Gams
Shared Control for Human-Robot Cooperative Manipulation Tasks . . . 787
Tadej Petrič, Mišel Cevzar, and Jan Babič
Open Source EMG Device for Controlling a Robotic Hand . . . . . . . . . . 797
Mišel Cevzar, Tadej Petrič, and Jan Babič
Assistive Strategies for a Back Support Exoskeleton:
Experimental Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805
Stefano Toxiri, Jesús Ortiz, and Darwin G. Caldwell
FEX a Fingers Extending eXoskeleton for Rehabilitation
and Regaining Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
Patrizio Sale, Giovanni Stellin, Stefano Masiero, Francesco Becchi,
and Wiktor Sieklicki
Contents xvii

Ankle Prosthesis with an Active Control of the Pitch

and the Release of the Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
Michele Gabrio Antonelli, Stefano Alleva, Francesco Durante,
and Pierluigi Beomonte Zobel
Development of an Active Orthosis for Inferior Limb
with Light Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
Francesco Durante, Pierluigi Beomonte Zobel, and Terenziano Raparelli

Technological Rehabilitation
P.I.G.R.O.: An Active Exoskeleton for Robotic Neurorehabilitation
Training Driven by an Electro-Pneumatic Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
Katiuscia Sacco, Guido Belforte, Gabriella Eula, Terenziano Raparelli,
Silvia Sirolli, Elisabetta Geda, Giuliano Carlo Geminiani, Roberta Virgilio,
and Marina Zettin
Study and Experimentation of Innovative Textile Pneumatic
Muscle Prototypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854
Guido Belforte, Gabriella Eula, Alexandre Ivanov, Terenziano Raparelli,
and Silvia Sirolli
Design and Control of Linkage Exoskeletons in Wheelchair . . . . . . . . . . 862
Gao Huang, Marco Ceccarelli, Weimin M. Zhang, Fei Meng, Tao Sun,
and Qiang Huang
An Ethical Reflection on the Application of Cyber Technologies
in the Field of Healthcare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870
Adelaide Conti, Elena Azzalini, Cinzia Amici, Valter Cappellini,
Rodolfo Faglia, and Paola Delbon
Hand Robotic Rehabilitation: From Hospital to Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
Alberto Borboni, Mauro Serpelloni, Michela Borghetti, Cinzia Amici,
Francesco Aggogeri, Davide Fausti, Massimo Antonini, Maurizio Mor,
Emilio Sardini, and Rodolfo Faglia
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Devices: Preliminary Analysis . . . . . . . . 885
Riccardo Adamini, Francesco Aggogeri, Manuela Baronio,
Alberto Borboni, Elisabetta Dal Gal, Nicola Pellegrini, and Carlo Remino
ERRSE: Elbow Robotic Rehabilitation System with an EMG-Based
Force Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
Monica Tiboni, Giovanni Legnani, Matteo Lancini, Mauro Serpelloni,
Massimiliano Gobbo, and Davide Fausti
Path’s Slicing Analysis as a Therapist’s Intervention Tool
for Robotic Rehabilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
Mozafar Saadat, Alireza Rastegarpanah, Che Zulkhairi Abdullah,
Hamid Rakhodaei, Alberto Borboni, and Marco Maddalena
xviii Contents

Surface EMG for Human-Machine Interfaces: New Knowledge

and Open Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
Marco Gazzoni, Alberto Botter, and Taian Vieira
Upper Limb Rehabilitation Robotic System Requirements Analysis . . . . 919
Dorin Popescu, Florin Manta, Ligia Rusu, Taina Elena Avramescu,
and Mihaela Zavaleanu

Biomedical Applications
Human Energy Involved in Manual and Mechanically Facilitate
Harvesting of Saffron Flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931
Andrea Manuello Bertetto, M. Garau, R. Ricciu, Gianmario Satta,
P. Chiappori, and Alberto Concu
Stiffness Characterization of Biological Tissues by Means
of MEMS-Technology Based Micro Grippers Under Position
Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939
Alvise Bagolini, Pierluigi Bellutti, Paolo Di Giamberardino, Imre J. Rudas,
Vito D’Andrea, Matteo Verotti, Alden Dochshanov,
and Nicola P. Belfiore
Bio-Mechatronic Modules for Robotic Massage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948
Maksim Arkhipov, Igor Orlov, Vadim Golovin, Liudmila Kocherevskaya,
Vzhesnevsky Evgeny, and Uglev Aleksander
Control of Force Impulse in Human-Machine Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956
Carlo De Benedictis, Walter Franco, Daniela Maffiodo, and Carlo Ferraresi
Dionis Surgical Positioner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965
Jeremy Olivier, Jerry Bielmann, Mohamed Bouri, and Hannes Bleuler
Method for Measuring the Displacement of Cadaveric Elbow
After the Section of Medial Collateral Ligament Anterior
and Posterior Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972
Daniele Borzelli, Laura Gastaldi, Cristina Bignardi, Alberto Audenino,
Mara Terzini, Arman Sard, and Stefano Pastorelli
A New Testing Device for the Role of the Trunk in Force Production
and in Balance Control in Disabled Sitting Athletes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980
Valeria Rosso, Laura Gastaldi, Walter Rapp, Benedikt Fasel,
Yves Vanlandewijck, Stefan Lindinger, and Vesa Linnamo
Two-Segments Foot Model for Biomechanical Motion Analysis . . . . . . . 988
Elisa Panero, Laura Gastaldi, and Walter Rapp
Validation of Three KUKA Agilus Robots for Application
in Neurosurgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 996
Marko Švaco, Petar Koren, Bojan Jerbić, Josip Vidaković,
Bojan Šekoranja, and Filip Šuligoj
Contents xix

A New Bone Fixation Device for Human Joint Test Rig Machine . . . . . 1007
Luca Luzi, Nicola Sancisi, Michele Conconi, and Vincenzo Parenti Castelli

Cesare Rossi, Ad Memoriam

Performance Analysis of the Automata in a Blossoming Flower Clock
in the 18th Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
Yu-Hsun Chen, Marco Ceccarelli, and Hong-Sen Yan
Design Issues for an Inherently Safe Robotic Rehabilitation Device . . . . 1025
Giuseppe Carbone, Bogdan Gherman, Ionut Ulinici, Calin Vaida,
and Doina Pisla
Influence of the Tendon Design on the Behavior
of an Under-Actuated Finger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033
Vincenzo Niola, Cesare Rossi, and Sergio Savino
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043
Robot Kinematics and Dynamics
 Comparative Analysis of Quasi-Differential
Approaches in Inverse Kinematics

Bertalan Csanádi1(B) , János F. Bitó2 , Imre J. Rudas3 , and József K. Tar2,3

1
Doctoral School of Applied Informatics and Applied Mathematics,
Óbuda University, Bécsiút 96/B, Budapest 1034, Hungary
csanadi.bertalan@phd.uni-obuda.hu
2
John von Neumann Faculty of Informatics, Óbuda University,
Bécsiút 96/B, Budapest 1034, Hungary
bito@uni-obuda.hu
3
University Research, Innovation, and Service Center,
Antal Bejczy Center of Intelligent Robotics, Óbuda University,
Bécsiút 96/B, Budapest 1034, Hungary
rudas@uni-obuda.hu, tar.jozsef@nik.uni-obuda.hu
http://www.uni-obuda.hu

Abstract. In general, i.e. when the kinematic construction of a redun-

dant robot arm does not meet special requirements, the inverse kinematic
task has only differential solutions that do not exist in the kinematically
singular points and suffer from large angular velocity components in the
vicinity of the singularities. Recently it has been pointed out that these
problems are caused by the use of some generalized matrix inverses,
and they can be evaded by the application of a quasi-differential app-
roach that transforms the task into a Fixed Point Problem and solves
it with a convergent iteration without the use of any matrix inversion.
In this paper it is shown that further possibilities are available in the
quasi-differential approach that differ from each other in the use of the
elements of the Null Space of the Jacobian. It is concluded that for main-
taining the continuity of the solutions the use of the elements of this null
space are practically important. This conclusion is illustrated via simu-
lations for an irregularly extended PUMA-type robot arm, that is an 8
Degree of Freedom system.

1 Introduction
The “differential tackling” of the inverse kinematic task of redundant open kine-
matic chains means a generally viable approach (e.g. [1]). Let q ∈ IRn , n ∈ IN
denote the joint coordinates, and let x ∈ IRm , m ∈ IN be the array containing
the Cartesian coordinates of certain points of the robot arm with respect to the
“workshop frame” as well as certain independent components of the orthogo-
nal matrices that prescribe the rotational “poses” of certain links. Normally the
function x(s), s ∈ [sini , sf inal ] ⊂ IR is prescribed for a nominal motion, where
s is a scalar parameter that directly may be the time, or its scaled function. It
corresponds to a one dimensional line in the m dimensional space, sini denotes

c Springer International Publishing AG 2018
C. Ferraresi and G. Quaglia (eds.), Advances in Service and Industrial Robotics,
Mechanisms and Machine Science 49, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-61276-8 1
4 B. Csanádi et al.

the initial, and sf inal is the final point of this trajectory. If m > n in general
the existence of an exact solution cannot be expected, while the case m < n
corresponds to a redundant arm that may provide ambiguous solutions. The
differential equation Eq. (1)

dxj  ∂xj dqk

n  n
dqk
= ≡ Jjk , (1)
ds ∂qk ds ds
k=1 k=1

and the initial condition x(si ) = xini define the differential inverse kinematic
task (normally xini is known), and matrix J is the Jacobian of the problem. The
Null Space of J corresponds to those non-zero arrays IRn  a = 0 for which
IRm  Ja = 0. Evidently, if dq ds is the solution of Eq. (1), then ds + ak is its
k dqk

solution, too. Certain approaches consider this ambiguity as disturbing factors

that have to be evaded (e.g. when the Moore-Penrose pseudo-inverse [2] is used),
while other approaches may utilize its practical advantages (e.g. [3]).
The definition of the null-space has very simple algebraic and geometric inter-
pretations. The algebraic interpretation corresponds to the observation that the
columns of J are linearly dependent. The geometric interpretation is based on
the properties of the scalar product of real vectors, and corresponds to the obser-
vation that each row of J, that is each column of J T , is orthogonal to a. Con-
sequently, whenever the solution of Eq. (1) is given in the form of q̇ = J T w,
w ∈ IRm , i.e. it is given as the linear combination of the columns of J T . It is
a “sterile” one that is “exempt from” any element of the null space of J, that
corresponds to the orthogonal subspace of the columns of J T .
In robotics a reasonable ambiguity resolution can be the minimization of
n  dqk 2
the “cost function” k=1 ds under the constraint that the Eq. (1) must
be valid. This leads to the “Moore-Penrose Pseudoinverse” (e.g. [2]) as q̇ =
 −1
J T JJ T ẋ that evidently corresponds to a “sterile” solution because it is
a linear combination of the columns of J T . If JJ T is not invertible, i.e. when
J T has non-empty null space, the problem is singular. Since within the neigh-
borhood of the singularity it cannot be numerically integrated in a convenient
manner, complementary ideas are needed. A plausible possibility is the slight
“deformation” of the original task that introduces little error in the points that
are far from the singularities. This provides numerically soluble “inverse” in, and
in the vicinity of the singular points by the use of a small parameter μ > 0 as
 −1
follows: q̇ = J T JJ T + μI ẋ, since the matrix in it always has an inverse.
If μ is much smaller than the smallest non-zero eigenvalue of JJ T this means
only little perturbation of the original task and yields finite dq
ds values in, and in
the vicinity, of the singularities. In [4] the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD)
(e.g. [5]) was used for marix inversion. For dealing with the singularities, in [6] a
2nd order approach was suggested instead of the use of the linear equations near
the singularities. In [7] complex extension of the generalized coordinates was
 Quasi-Differential Approaches in Inverse Kinematics 5

introduced for task deformation. In [8] an approach that evaded the minimiza-
tion of any cost function was suggested on the basis of using the Gram-Schmidt
Algorithm (e.g. [9]).
The first version of the here presented approach was published in [10], and
was also applied in the adaptive solution of the inverse kinematic task when the
available kinematic model is only a good approximation of the robot arm in use
[11]. In Sect. 2 at first this basic idea is outlined, then the possible modifications
are introduced.

2 The Original Fixed Point Transformation-Based

Approach
Consider a nonlinear, differentiable real function f : IRn → IRn as x = f (q).
Our taks is to find the independent variable q for a given x. In [12] this task was
transformed into a fixed point problem as follows: construct a real differentiable
function F (ξ) : IR → IR with an attractive fixed point F (ξ ) = ξ . Generate a
sequence of iterative signals by the use of F as
f (qi ) − x
qi+1 = [F (A f (qi ) − x + ξ ) − ξ ] + qi , (2)
f (qi ) − x
applying the concept of the Frobenius norm. In Eq. (2) A is an adaptive parame-
ter. For q(k) = q that provides f (q ) = x it yields that qk+1 = qk , that means
that if q is the solution of our task, it also is the fixed point of this function.
For studying the convergence of this sequence it was assumed that A f (qi ) − x
was small in comparison with ξ . Using the first order Taylor series expansion of
F (ξ) around ξ in Eq. (2) evidently leads to the qi+1 ≈ dFdξ A (f (qi ) − x) + qi .
ξ
In similar manner, if qi is in the vicinity of q , similar approximation can be
obtained as f (qi ) = f (q + qi − q ) ≈ f (q ) + ∂f
∂q (qi − q ). With these assump-
q
tions we arrived at the approximation qi+1 ≈ dF
dξ A ∂f
∂q (qi − q ) + qi . By
ξ q
subtracting q from both sides we obtained information on the variation of the
approximation error between two steps of the iteration as

dF ∂f
qi+1 − q ≈ I + A (qi − q ) = [I + AM ](qi − q ), (3)
dξ ξ ∂q q

in which M ∈ IRn×n , and A ∈ IR. Evidently, if [I + AM ] is contractive then

qi → q as i → ∞, that is the iterative sequence converges to the solution of
the problem. The contractivity of the matrix [I + AM ] in [12] was studied by
the use of its Jordan Canonical Form. It was concluded that for the convergence
the real part of each eigenvalue of the matrix ∂f ∂q must be either positive or
negative, simultaneously. In this case a small parameter A with appropriate sign
can make the iteration convergent for each Jordan block. For the Jacobian of
the simplest 2 DoF rotary link structure in [10] it was shown that the conditions
6 B. Csanádi et al.

of convergence generally are not valid. Further problem arose for the redundant
robots since their Jacobians were not quadratic matrices. To simultaneously
def
eliminate these problems it was suggested to solve the “modified problem” x̃ =
J (q)x = J (q)f (q) by iteration. In it the number of the components in x̃ is
T T

just equal to n, and the Taylor series expansion of f around q resulted in an

approximation of the differences:

J (q)f (q) ≈ J (q) f (q ) + ∂q
T T ∂f
(q − q ) ⇒
q (4)
J (q) [f (q) − f (q )] ≈ J (q)J(q )(q − q ) ≈ J T (q)J(q)(q − q ).
T T

Since in the inverse kinematic task the “home position” of the robot is always
known, it is reasonable to assume that in the initial point si we are just in the
fixed point, and if we apply only small steps to calculate the next point, we
can work with an exactly positive semidefinite matrix. Because the Jacobian
must be calculated but its inverse is not computed, the mehod was referred to
as a “quasi-differential approach”. Its main advantages, that were illustrated via
numerical computations in [8] are as follows:

1. According to the geometric interpretation of the null space of J Eq. (4) means
that the array J T Δf is exempt from the elements of this null space, therefore
it may have solution even when the equation Δf = JΔq cannot be solved.
That means that the iteration will not fail for unreachable points.
2. If Δqk is in the null space of J, Δqk+1 = J T JΔqk = 0, therefore the appro-
priate components of q will stagnate, while for the other components the
iterative sequence will converge to the best approximation of the solution, as
it happened in the case of the application of the Gram-Schmidt Algorithm
in [8].

Further formal possibilities that are investigated in this paper at first are related
to the idea of seeking null-space-free modification of the generalized coordinates
in the form of Δq = J T Δw

Δf = [f (q) − f (q )] ≈ J(q )J T (q)Δw ≈ J(q)J T (q)Δw. (5)

Since in Eq. (5) the unreachable components are not removed from Δf , the Tay-
lor series-based approximation cannot be used for such points. Otherwise, the
matrix J(q)J T (q) is again positive semidefinite, therefore for the reachable points
convergence can be expected. To cure this problem we can take it into consider-
 T T
ation that J(q)J T (q) is symmetric. If S = S T , then S 2 = (SS) = S T S T =
S , that is the square of a symmetric matrix is always symmetric. Furthermore, a
2

symmetric matrix always can be diagonalized with an orthogonal transformation

O in the form S = OT σO, therefore S 2 = OT σOOT σO = OT σ 2 O. Therefore if
S is positive semidefinite, then S 2 is positive semidefinite, too. As a consequence
both sides of Eq. (5) can be multiplied by J(q)J T (q) leading to
 2  2
J(q)J T (q)Δf ≈ J(q )J T (q) Δw ≈ J(q)J T (q) Δw, (6)
 Quasi-Differential Approaches in Inverse Kinematics 7

that may eliminate the problem of the unreachable points, assuming that the
solution can be generated without the use of the elements of the null space of J.
As it can be seen from the simulation results above, this assumption cannot be
generally held.

3 Computational Results

In the computations a 8 DoF robot arm similar, but more detailed to that consid-
ered in [8] was used. (To spare room its details are not given in this paper.) In the
present investigations a nominal trajectory was generated by rotating the axes
of this arm while the lengths of the arm segments were either constant or peri-
odically were shrunk and re-dilated to their original length depending on time.
For the measurement of the pose (orientation) error the difference 
of the nom-
N 2
def i,j (Oij −Oij )
inal and the actual orthogonal matrices were used as oerr = √
3
.
This measure is reasonable since an orthogonal matrix of size 3 × 3 consists
of three pairwisely orthogonal unit vectors therefore the sum of squares of its
matrix elements must be always 3. The parameters of the simulation are given
in Table 1.
Figure 1 shows the numerical results for the “original”, i.e. the J T J-based
solution when the lengths of the trajectory generating segments were constant
and identical to that of the tracking arm. The suggested method yielded good tra-
jectory and orientation tracking. It is evident that the “generating joint angles”
differ from the realized ones that reveals the use of the elements of the null
space of J. In Fig. 3 the non-trivial results are displayed when the trajectory to
be tracked was generated by longer links than that of the tracking arm. In this
case precise trajectory tracking is impossible, but the algorithm provided us with
some useful “deformed solution”. Figure 4 represents the opposite case when the
trajectory was generated a shrunk robot arm, therefore it was traceable by the
original, longer arm.

Table 1. The parameters of the simulation

Parameter Value
The adaptive function F (ξ) = atanh (tanh(ξ + D)/2)
Steps in the internal cycles 10
Adaptive parameter D 0.3
 
Adaptive parameter A −0.01 rad−1
Adaptive parameter (dependent value) ξ 0.2594563670316664
The number of discrete points in the trajectory 10000
Time resolution (s ≡ t) δt 0.001 [s]
8 B. Csanádi et al.

Fig. 1. The original [J T J-based] solution for links of constant lengths in the trajec-
tory generation. (The minimal egenvalues numerically correspond to the theoretically
expected value 0.)

 
Fig. 2. The alternative [f J T w -based] solution for links of constant lengths in the
trajectory generation.

 
The counterpart of Fig. 1 is Fig. 2 that displays the behavior of the f J T w -
based solution. As far as the eigenvalues of JJ T are concerned, they could guar-
antee convergence but the solution was unstable that stresses the significance of
 2
the use of the elements of the null space of J. For the JJ T -based approach
no well converging solution was found.
 Quasi-Differential Approaches in Inverse Kinematics 9

Fig. 3. The original [J T J-based] solution for links of periodically varying lengths (the
dilatation factor ∈ [1.0, 1.5]) in the trajectory generation. (The trajectory generated
by the dilated links not everywhere can be reproduced by a construction made of
shorter links. In such points the tracking error and the orientation error is large.)

Fig. 4. The original [J T J-based] solution for links of periodically varying lengths (the
shrinking factor ∈ [0.5, 1.0]) in the trajectory generation. (The trajectory generated
by the shrunk links can be reproduced by a construction made of longer links.)

4 Conclusions

In this paper three possible variants of the matrix inversion-free, fixed point
transformation-based quasi-differential solution of the inverse kinematic task of
open kinematic chains was investigated. It was found that the best solution
10 B. Csanádi et al.

can be obtained by transforming the original f (q) = x problem into J(q)f (q) =
J(q)x. The computations revealed the practical significance of using the elements
of the null space of the Jacobian J(q) in the continuity and stability of the
obtained solution.

Acknowledgments. This work has been partially supported by the Doctoral School
of Applied Informatics and Applied Mathematics of Óbuda University.

References
1. Chiaverini S, Egeland O, Kanestrom R (1991) Achieving user-defined accuracy with
damped least squares inverse kinematics. In: 1991 IEEE international conference
on robotics and automation, June 19–22, 1991, Pisa, p 672
2. Ben-Israel A, Greville T (2003) Generalized inverses. Springer, New York
3. Nemec B, Zlajpah L (2000) Null velocity control with dinamically consistent
pseudo-inverse. Robotica 18:513–518
4. Maciejewski A, Klein C (1989) The singular value decomposition: computation and
application to robotics. Int J Robot Res 8:63–79
5. Golub G, Kahan W (1965) Calculating the singular values and pseudoinverse of a
matrix. SIAM J Numer Anal 2:205–224
6. Pohl E (1991) A new method of robotic rate control near singularities. In: 1991
IEEE international conference on robotics and automation, June 19–22, 1991, Pisa,
Italy, p 405
7. Pohl E, Lipkin H (1993) Complex robotic inverse kinematic solutions. J Mech Des
115:509–514
8. Tar J, Nádai L, Felde I, Rudas I (2015) Cost function-free optimization in inverse
kinematics of open kinematic chains. In: Borangiu T (ed.) Proceedings of the 24th
international workshop on robotics in alpe adria danube region (RAAD 2015),
May 27–29 2015, Bucharest, Romania. Advances in Robot Design and Intelligent
Control (within the series “Advances in Systems and Computing” 371). Springer
International Publishing AG, pp 137–145, Switzerland (2015)
9. Gram J (1883) Über die Entwickelung reeler Funktionen in Reihen mittelst der
Methode der kleinsten Quadrate. Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathe-
matik 94:71–73
10. Csanádi B, Tar J, Bitó J (2016) Matrix inversion-free quasi-differential approach in
solving the inverse kinematic task. In: Proceedings of the 17th IEEE International
Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Informatics, 17–19 November 2016,
Budapest, Hungary, pp 61–66
11. Khan H, Galántai A, Tar J (2017) Adaptive solution of the inverse kinematic
task by fixed point transformation. In: Accepted for publication at the 15th IEEE
international symposium on applied machine intelligence and informatics, to be
held from 26 to 28 January, Herl’any, Slovakia, pp 1–6
12. Dineva A, Tar J, Várkonyi-Kóczy A, Piuri V (2015) Generalization of a sigmoid
generated fixed point transformation from SISO to MIMO systems. In: Proceed-
ings of the IEEE 19th international conference on intelligent engineering systems,
September 3–5, 2015, Bratislava, Slovakia (INES 2015), pp 135–140
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
subject, how to diagnose, not alone hyperæmia and anæmia of the
brain and spinal cord, but also of special lobes of the former and
particular columns of the latter. These directions are in most
instances based on assumptions which are not supported by direct
or tangible evidence, and the consequence is that they have failed to
stand the tests of experience, where this gauge is applicable, and
necessarily failed to advance in any way either our theoretical or
practical knowledge of those states of the brain mechanism which
are due to alterations in its nutrition.

Much of the unsatisfactory state of our knowledge on this head is

due to the grouping together of the physiological anæmia of sleep
and the pathological anæmia with which the physician has to deal.
The anæmia of the brain in a sleeping person is probably a
secondary factor; it ensues after the person falls asleep, the first step
in the latter process being probably an altered dynamic state of the
brain which lessens the requirements of that organ for blood. This
can be readily demonstrated in the case of infants whose anterior
fontanelle has not yet closed. In deep sleep the fontanelle is deeply
sunken in, but this sinking in does not occur simultaneously with the
child's falling asleep, but shortly thereafter. On the other hand, the
fontanelle does not rise simultaneously with the child's awakening,
unless it cry, which adds a disturbing factor. There are a number of
other facts which show that while a comparison between the
sleeping state and cerebral anæmia may be made for the purposes
of theoretical discussion, yet there are many important points in
which they are at variance. To illustrate this I need but refer to the
fact that in deep sleep the pupils are in a state of immobility and
pinhole contraction,14 while in chronic cerebral anæmia of young
persons a dilated and mobile pupil is the commoner condition. In
acutely-produced cerebral anæmia an initial contraction has been
noted, but it is not then persistent.
14 Inability to counterfeit this feature is one of the most reliable tests of simulation,
and served to convince me that in the well-known case of a colored cadet, who was
tried by a court-martial on charges involving simulation, the latter was proven. There
are persons who can voluntarily contract the pupils, but as they are compelled to
 innervate all the muscles supplied by the third pair, in so doing they are compelled to
converge the optic axes—an act which does not take place in sleep.

One of the main reasons of our imperfect knowledge of the nutritive

disorders of the brain is the unsatisfactory state of their post-mortem
evidence. Little has been learned in this field, except in those
extreme cases where the suddenness and intensity of the circulatory
catastrophe were sufficient to prove fatal. Even where all
observations made during life justify us in supposing that the amount
of blood sent to the brain is small, that the velocity of its current is
reduced, and its quantity poor, the autopsy may reveal conditions
apparently conflicting with the supposition based on ante-mortem
observations. This is amply illustrated by the experience of alienists
who have studied the relation between nutritive states of the brain
and certain forms of insanity. It is generally held that in so far as the
antithetical forms of mental disorder known as anæmia and
melancholia can be connected with nutritive disorders, the former is
indicative of hyperæmia and the latter of anæmia. A number of facts
can be adduced in support of this view, particularly as regards the
latter condition. It is found, however, in some examinations made of
the brains of patients dying melancholic that the brain is apparently
hyperæmic; the length of time elapsing before an autopsy is made,
the form of somatic disease with which the patient dies, the position
of the body after death,—all these may play a part in the production
of cerebral injections which do not correctly indicate the condition of
the brain as it existed prior to the moribund period, and when the
symptoms of supposed anæmia or hyperæmia could be satisfactorily
differentiated.

ETIOLOGY.—The best studied form of cerebral anæmia is that

ensuing after extensive hemorrhages or from compression and
ligature of either of the common carotid arteries.15 In the latter case
symptoms are produced which are in harmony with the doctrine of
localization, and permit us to form a conception of the mode in which
a diminution of the cerebral blood-supply influences the functions of
the brain. The chief symptoms are noted on the side of the body
opposite to that on which the common carotid artery is tied. Thus if
the left artery be tied, there is at first felt a tingling or pricking feeling
on the right half of the body; this is followed by a warm, sometimes a
cold, and ultimately by a numb, feeling. This sensory disturbance
may become of what might be called the capsular type—that is, a
complete hemianæsthesia; but at first it is distinctly like that which is
found with cortical and subcortical disease, being limited to the
muscular sense and the intelligent contact-perceptions of objects,
the æsthesiometer showing but little or no impairment of the
cutaneous space-sense. With the loss of muscular sense the
movements become heavy, and later true paresis may appear with
perhaps total anæsthesia. Aphasia is sometimes noted in such
cases, and, in obedience to the predominant location of the speech-
faculty in the left side of the brain, is rarely if ever found16 when the
right common carotid artery is the one ligated.
15 As the conditions of the cerebral circulation resulting from surgical and other rare
causes are not apt to be brought to the physician's attention separately from
conditions of more immediate importance, their symptoms are discussed in the
etiological portion of this section in order to avoid complicating the semeiological
picture of cerebral anæmia of every-day experience. For similar reasons the
anomalies of the cerebral circulation of an embolic and thrombotic nature, and those
associated with eclampsia and epilepsy, are not mentioned in this connection, as their
full discussion properly belongs to other portions of this work.

16 I am unaware of the record of any case where aphasia occurred with ligature of the
right common carotid artery. There is a singular observation by Hagen-Torn of
permanent paralysis of the right hypoglossal nerve after such an operation, but the
report to which I have access does not state whether this may not have been due to
some peripheral involvement of that nerve.

In this series of symptomatic sequelæ it is seen that the functional

manifestations of the highest centres are the first to be involved, and
this establishes that of all parts of the cerebrum the cortex and
subcortical tracts are the more vulnerable to the influence of a
deficient blood-supply.17 As we shall see, it is precisely to the
insufficient nutrition of these parts that the more important symptoms
of the cerebral anæmia of ordinary practice are attributable.
 17 To this there is an apparent exception: when blindness occurs in consequence of
ligature of one carotid artery, it is monocular and limited to the side of the ligation. The
visual disturbance of cortical and subcortical disease is bilateral, being of the
character known as hemianopsic. The blindness due to tying of the carotid is,
however, not due to cerebral, but to retinal, anæmia, and its monocular character
does not therefore invalidate the observation in the text. Litten and Hirschberg
(Berliner klinische Wochenshrift, 1885, No. 20) found complete bilateral amaurosis in
a chlorotic girl of fifteen, and on ophthalmoscopic examination the peripheral origin of
the blindness was conclusively proven by the existence of an exquisite choked disc.
Both the morbid ophthalmoscopic appearance and the amaurosis disappeared under
tonic regimen. It is well to recollect that choked disc may occur in chlorosis, and thus
be perhaps erroneously attributed to a coexisting hysteria, as was done in some
cases at least by Rosenthal in his textbook.

With bilateral ligature18 of the primary carotids—and this applies in

the main to cerebral anæmia from profuse hemorrhages or sudden
changes in the blood-pressure, such as occur in enteric affections,
ruptures of aneurisms, in obstetric practice, and after brusque
tapping for ascites—the same phenomena noted with unilateral
compression are observed on both sides of the body, and usually in
slighter intensity. In addition, there is a profound and characteristic
disturbance of respiration; a cold sweat breaks out; the senses of
sight and hearing become greatly impaired or perverted; the mind
becomes clouded, consciousness blurred; complete syncope may
ensue, and pass to a fatal termination. In other cases vertigo
preponderates or vomiting, and finally convulsions appear. It would
seem that the respiratory centre exceeds even the cortex in
susceptibility to the evil influence of anæmia. It differs from them in
two features: firstly, it appears to require bilateral involvement of the
brain for its production; secondly, although the respiratory
disturbance precedes that of the higher cerebral functions, it does
not become as intense, for at a time when the intellectual functions
are abolished, as in anæmic coma and syncope, the respiratory
function, however disturbed, is in most cases sufficiently well carried
on to bear the organism safely through the crisis. The disturbance is
marked by the following characters: The respiration is at first deep
and sighing, perhaps frequent; it later becomes slow, and is
associated with a subjective sense of oppression; the patient feels
as if he could not fill his lungs properly; there is an unsatisfied
sensation, as if a deeper breath should be taken, and when, in
obedience to this subjective need, a full deep breath is taken, the
patient feels as if he had stopped short of completing the act, and
remains as unsatisfied as before.19 Yawning and moaning are often
accompaniments of this symptom.20 As we shall see, these signs are
often among the chief sources of complaint in the less grave forms of
anæmia of every-day experience. In the serious condition before us
the Cheyne-Stokes phenomena may follow.
18 I exclude the observations of Flemming, Hammond, and Corning on carotid
compression by external pressure, owing to the difficulty of determining whether or
no, and what, other important structures are compressed at the same time.

19 The occurrence of this functional respiratory trouble is a feature of toxic as well as

of anæmic irritation of the respiratory centre; it is accordingly found in cases of
profound alcoholic poisoning.

20 It is somewhat difficult to understand why in cases of anæmia induced in both

carotid districts the symptoms of anæmia should be marked in the functions of that
part of the brain-axis which through the basilar trunk derives its blood from the
vertebral arteries. Here the blood-current must necessarily be increased. That the
disturbance of breathing, the yawning, and the sighing belong to the group of irritative
symptoms due to anæmia is in harmony with the general physiological law which is
illustrated in the initial contraction of the pupil, which is found in experimental cerebral
anæmia. Observations on anæmia of the brain-axis are too few, and, so far as noted,
have been so rapidly fatal that it is not possible to derive from them any facts bearing
on the physiological reactions of the respiratory centre to high-graded anæmia. One
of the curiosities of medicine appertaining to this subject is the observation recorded
in Virchow's Archiv, lxix. p. 93, of the case of a man who had fractured the base of the
skull in its posterior fossa, and, the basilar artery becoming caught and pinched in the
crack, death occurred rapidly with all the signs of cerebral anæmia, verified by the
post-mortem appearances.

Anæmia of the brain may develop at any period of life, not excluding
the intra-uterine period. Kundrat and Binswanger regard the
deformity of the brain known as porencephaly as the result of an
anæmic (non-embolic) necrosis of brain-substance, developed either
in the fœtal or the infantile period. The occasional symmetry of the
deformity is in favor of this view. That there are other conditions of
cerebral malnutrition,21 masking themselves in defective
development and imperfect isolation of the conducting tracts, and
that the consequent differing rate of maturation of these tracts has
some relation to the absence or presence of a predisposition to
chorea and other disturbances of nervous equilibrium so common at
this period of life, I regard as at least probable. But it is at the period
of puberty that we encounter the most important discrepancies
between the requirements of brain-nutrition and the furnished blood-
supply. The disposition to uncomplicated cerebral anæmia is
greatest at this period of life and in the female sex. Beneke22 has
shown that as the human being grows the arteries, which in children
are very large in proportion to the length of the body, get to be
relatively smaller and smaller toward the period of puberty—that
after this period they widen to again attain a large circumference at
old age. There is thus added to the other and more obscure factors
which may determine general anæmia at puberty a diminished
calibre of the arteries in both sexes. To some extent the
disadvantageous influence of (relatively) narrow vascular channels
may be overcome by increased cardiac action, and the almost
sudden increase in size of the heart about this period is probably the
result of the demand made upon its compensatory power. But, as we
learn from the same observer that the female heart remains
relatively as well as absolutely smaller than that of the male, we can
understand why the female should be less able to overcome the
pubescent disposition to cerebral (and general) anæmia than the
male. Menstruation, which in a certain proportion of girls scarcely
maintains the semblance of a physiological process, acting rather as
a drain than a functional discharge, is added to the anæmia-
producing factors. It is among those who marry in the ensuing
condition, who bring forth child after child in rapid succession,
perhaps, in addition, flooding considerably at each confinement, that
we find the classical symptoms of chronic cerebral anæmia
developed.
 21 I have found in three children under fourteen months of age, who died with
symptoms not unlike those of slowly-developed tubercular meningitis, including
convulsions, strabismus, temperature disturbance (slight), and terminal coma, without
nuchal contracture or pupillary anomalies, a remarkably anæmic brain. The sulci
gaped; there were few or no puncta vasculosa; the cortex extremely pale, and the
white substance almost bluish-white. On attempting to harden the brain of the
youngest of these children, using every precaution and a sufficient number of sets of
hardening fluids, including the chromic salts and alcohol, I found that small cavities
formed in the cortex, varying from the scarcely visible to two-thirds of a millimeter in
diameter. Their existence were demonstrable the day after the death and almost
immediate autopsy performed in this case. There had been no antecedent disease in
any one of these cases; the children had been lethargic, inactive, and the oldest had
made no attempt to walk or talk. There was no morphological or quantitative defect in
cerebral or cranial development, and microscopic examination showed that the
cavities were not perivascular. In all these cases the patients belonged to the
tenement-house population.

22 An excellent abstract of Beneke's original monograph, by N. A. P. Bowditch, will be

found in volume i. Transactions of the Massachusetts Medico-Legal Society.

In the male sex the period of adolescence has not the same
profound influence in producing cerebral anæmia that it has in
females. To some extent, however, habitual self-abuse and early
sexual excess of the former produce results similar to those
occurring in consequence of perverted physiological processes in
the latter. Many of the symptoms presented by the inveterate
masturbator are probably due to cerebral anæmia; there are,
however, in his case and in that of the early libertine certain vaso-
motor complications frequently present which render the clinical
picture a mixed one.23 In addition, abuse of the sexual apparatus has
a direct—probably dynamic and impalpable—exhausting effect on
the central nervous apparatus.
23 Kiernan of Chicago has described peculiar trophic disturbances—dermato-
neuroses, color-changes of the hair, etc.—in a case of masturbatory mental trouble
associated with marked anæmia. The patient whenever he flushed up heard a noise
as of a pistol snapped near the mastoid region. In the case of a young man of
 eighteen who—the pampered son of wealthy parents—became his own master at
fifteen, and had at that age indulged in sexual orgies which were continued to an
almost incredible extent, it was found that he gradually lost his memory, and on one
occasion had a violent epileptiform attack. During his convalescence from the
stuporous state which followed it was noted that the patient was quite bright in the
morning, but that after he had been up a while he relapsed into a state of apathy, with
amnesia, which, decreasing in intensity from week to week, was eventually only noted
toward evening, and finally disappeared, the case terminating in complete recovery.

In the vast majority of cases anæmia of the brain is but a part of

general anæmia, and all conditions which tend to impoverish the
character of the blood and to reduce the rapidity of movement and
fulness of the cerebral blood-column are apt to be associated with
signs of cerebral malnutrition. As early an observer as Addison
noticed the wandering of the mind in pernicious anæmia, in which
disorder anæmia and wasting of the brain have been found post-
mortem. In two cases of extreme chlorosis I heard the sound known
as the cephalic soufflé with great distinctness;24 this sound, when the
other morbid conditions that may lead to it can be excluded,
indicates a high degree of anæmia. Both patients were somnolent
and subject to fainting-spells. In leucocythæmia a rambling delirium
is not infrequently noted toward the close of the patient's life, and the
habitual sadness and depression of many leukæmic patients is due,
as are also certain phases of melancholia, to cerebral malnutrition. In
some stages of most, and in all stages of some, forms of renal
disease the conditions of cerebral anæmia are present; and it is
reasonable to attribute to it some share in the production of the head
symptoms of Bright's disease; but here, as in cases of cardiac
disease, symptoms due to other influences—uræmia in the former,
and insufficient oxygenation of the blood in the latter instance—
obscure or conceal those due to the anæmia strictly speaking.
24 When an anæmic murmur at the base of the heart coexists with the cephalic
soufflé, the latter may be regarded as an evidence of anæmia; but where the former is
absent—that is, when the cephalic soufflé is an isolated, independent symptom—
there is reason to suspect the existence of a tumor or some other cause of
compression of the carotid artery at or after its entry into the cranium. In one of the
 cases referred to in the text, pressing on one or the other carotid produced numbness
and tingling in the opposite arm, leg, and cheek. Similar observations were made by
Tripier (Revue de Médecine, March, 1881), who strenuously maintains the existence
of the cephalic soufflé in the adult, against Henry Roger, and in consonance with the
observations of Fisher and Whitney. In the last-mentioned case of mine the sound
could be heard a distance from the head.

All exhausting diseases, many febrile affections, notably typhoid,

starvation from any cause, and exhausting discharges, may produce
cerebral anæmia. Under the latter head belong the diarrhœal
affections of childhood, which not infrequently lead to an aggravated
form of anæmia of the brain known as hydrocephaloid. In addition to
the provoking causes of cerebral anæmia there are certain
accessory ones: prominent among these is the upright position and
sudden rising. The reason of this influence is self-evident, as is also
the fact that it is most apt to manifest itself in cases of cardiac
enfeeblement. Many a convalescent from an exhausting fever or
other disease has on rising from bed fainted; some have fallen dead
from cerebral anæmia already existing, but fatally intensified by this
sudden change of position. A number of cases are on record by
Abercrombie, Forbes Winslow, J. G. Kiernan, and others where
persons manifested the symptoms of cerebral anæmia only when in
the upright position and even in lying on one side or the other; these
are, however, far rarer than is claimed by some later writers.

The purest form of acute cerebral anæmia, aside from that produced
by surgical interference with the cerebral circulation or extensive
hemorrhages, is that induced by mental influences, such as fright, a
disagreeable odor, or a disgusting or harrowing spectacle. Some
persons, not suffering from general anæmia or any diseased
condition thus far mentioned, on experiencing the emotional
influences named will be observed to turn pale, to breathe heavily,
and either sink into a chair or fall on the floor partly or entirely
unconscious. They are then suffering from a spasm of the cerebral
arteries resulting in acute and high-graded cerebral anæmia or
syncope. This condition is marked by some of the symptoms
previously mentioned as occurring with bilateral ligature of the
carotids: thus, the feeling of oppression on the chest, vertigo,
heaviness of the limbs, nausea, and vomiting are characteristic; a
cold sweat breaks out on the forehead; the visual field becomes
darkened; and hearing is rendered difficult by the tinnitus.25 The
pulse is small and of low tension, but regular.
25 Most authors claim that the sense of hearing is blunted, as that of vision is. This is
so in some, but certainly not in a large number of other cases. I have now under
observation a girl whose physical conformation—her neck is very long and her
shoulders tapering—and extreme susceptibility combine to favor the occurrence of
syncope. She faints in my office whenever an examination is made, even though it be
entirely verbal; and after recovering frequently lies down to answer by deputy, as
experience has shown her that she is less likely to faint in this position. I have
repeatedly satisfied myself from her subsequent statements that she heard what was
said, while she appeared to be quite unconscious and “saw everything black or
through a cloud.” It is not improbable that the impressions which most writers on the
subject convey were derived from the experience of novices in fainting; these, in the
alarm and anxiety of their condition, and confused by the tinnitus, might well fail to
hear what the bystanders said, particularly as on many such occasions the fainting
person is apt to be surrounded by a confused Babel of tongues. While the auditory
nerve is as sensitive to the irritative influence of anæmia as any, and there is a case
of a boy on record (Abercrombie) who could only hear well when lying down, and was
deaf when he stood up, yet the conclusions of other authorities who have studied the
subject would lead one to think that there are individual differences in this respect.
How often does not the dying person, after feeling for the hands of a relative whom he
cannot see, converse with him responsively! And how much need is there not of the
humane physician to remember that the sense of hearing is the last intellectual sense
to die, lest he speak unguardedly at the bedside!

As a rule, the subjects of simple syncope recover, the horizontal

position, which is assumed perforce in most cases, carrying with it
the chief remedial influence—namely, the facilitating of the access of
a fuller blood-supply to the brain. While, as stated, the tendency to
syncope may exist in healthy non-anæmic individuals, it is far more
common with those who suffer either from chronic cerebral anæmia
or from many of its predisposing conditions. The arterial spasm
which causes syncope is an exaggeration of what occurs within
physiological limits26 in all persons when subjected to emotional or
violent external impressions of any kind.
26 It has been experimentally determined by Istomanow (St. Petersburg Dissertation,
1885) in persons whose brain-surface had become partially accessible to observation
through traumatic causes that pain, warmth, pleasant smells, and sweet tastes cause
a contraction of the cerebral vessels and a sinking in of the brain-surface, while
tickling, unpleasant odors, bitter and sour tastes, produce the reverse condition; that
is, bulging of the brain-surface and increased injection of the vessels. Istomanow's
results are verified by other observations, particularly by the fact that with the latter
class of impressions there is an increase in the general blood-pressure, with sinking
of the surface-temperature, and, as measured by Mosso's method, decrease in the
volume of the extremities. While there is a general correspondence between these
observations and clinical experience, there are a few unexplained discrepancies.

MORBID ANATOMY.—In those severe cases of cerebral anæmia which

terminate fatally the entire brain appears bloodless. Since the color
of this organ under ordinary circumstances is in great part due to the
vascular injection, it appears very different when this admixture is
lessened or removed. Then the gray substance, instead of
presenting a reddish-gray tint, is of a pale buff color in infants, and a
pale gray in adults who have died of acute or intense cerebral
anæmia. The white substance exhibits few or no puncta vasculosa,
and there is no indication of the faint rosy tinge which even the white
substance has in the normal brain. All these appearances can be
imitated in the brain of an animal that is bled to death; they are also
met with in those who have died of inanition, particularly in cases of
melancholia attonita, the subjects of which had long refused food.
Most writers state that the ventricular and subarachnoid fluids are
increased in amount,27 and that the sulci appear wider in anæmic
than in normal brains. That these fluids must be increased to
compensate for the diminished blood-amount is evident. But it is not
unlikely that exaggerated estimates of the increase have been made;
and for this reason: Since the meninges and choroid plexuses are
comparatively bloodless, the cerebro-spinal fluids are more likely to
present themselves free from that admixture of blood which renders
the obtaining and measuring of their quantity so difficult under
ordinary circumstances. The gaping of the sulci has not been verified
by me either in animals that had been bled to death or in cases of
cerebral anæmia in rapidly-fatal atonic and phthisical melancholia. In
protracted cases of this nature I frequently found gaping of the sulci:
here, from the nature of the cases, the patients dying either from
self-starvation, imperfect assimilation, or wasting diseases, the
occurrence of a certain amount of atrophy of the brain-substance
proper could not be excluded.28
27 Hammond, on the other hand (Diseases of the Nervous System, p. 77), has the
ventricles generally empty.

28 Up to within a very short time ago it would have appeared heretical to claim that
any considerable amount of brain-wasting could ensue from starvation alone, as the
oft-cited experiments of Chossat seemed to show that mammals, birds, reptiles, and
amphibians lose in body-weight while being starved, but that the brain-weight is not
disturbed to any appreciable extent. Six years ago I examined the brain of a tortoise
(Cestudo Virginica) which had starved fully a year through ignorance of the keeper of
an aquarium. The atrophy of the brain was so marked that it had undergone
demonstrable changes of contour. Since then Rosenbach (Archiv für Psychiatrie, xvi.
p. 276) has demonstrated that brain-wasting and other changes do occur in starved
rabbits.

With protracted fevers accompanied by inanition—and this applies

particularly to the later period of typhoid fever—a condition of
cerebral anæmia is found which is of the greatest interest to the
clinician. The brain as a whole is bloodless; there may or may not be
apparently hyperæmic districts, but the injection is altogether on the
surface; the consistency of the brain is considerably diminished, and
this organ is often distinctly œdematous. In exceptional cases the
œdema is so great that softening results, the white substance
becoming fluidified at the cortical limit near the base of the sulci and
at the ventricular walls. This is due perhaps as much to post-mortem
maceration as to pre-mortem œdema, but that the latter condition
exists is shown by the condition of the brain as a whole. The loss of
memory, the difficulty of correlating the past and present, the
rambling, incoherent conversation, and anenergic stupor observed in
the decline of typhoid and other exhausting fevers, especially in
older subjects, may be properly attributed to the injurious effects of
post-febrile anæmia and anæmic œdema of the brain. Aside from
fevers, œdema is apt to be associated with anæmia where venous
stagnation is a complicating feature; consequently, it is not
uncommon with certain uncompensated valvular lesions,
emphysema, and other chronic pulmonic troubles.

Positive observations of tissue-changes from simple cerebral

anæmia have not been recorded. Even in extreme cases the
essential nervous structures, the ganglionic bodies, the nerve-fibres,
their sheaths, and the neuroglia, appear healthy. The adventitial and
pericellular spaces are sometimes enlarged, and variations in the
number and distribution of the free nuclei of the neuroglia and the
border bodies of the periadventitial districts have been observed by
me, but not with such constancy as to justify more than this mere
mention. In his researches on starvation Rosenbach found the brain
œdematous and the ventricles dilated; there were also microscopical
changes which indicated a profound disturbance of nutrition; the
large cells of the anterior spinal horn and cerebellum had lost their
transparency, being in a condition resembling cloudy swelling. The
neuroglia appeared to be in a similar condition as that of nerve-cells.
Singular as it may appear on first sight, the capillaries were found
crowded with blood-corpuscles, and there were many evidences of
diapedesis of such. This may indicate a passive accumulation due to
deficient cardiac and vascular contractility. The changes, as a whole,
were not unlike those found in myelitis,29 except in so far as no
actual inflammatory signs were present.
29 Several distinguished neurologists, notably Westphal, who were present when
Rosenbach presented his conclusions, were unable to recognize so profound a
deviation from the normal structural conditions as he claimed (Archiv für Psychiatrie,
xvi. p. 279).

SYMPTOMS.—The clinical phenomena of acute cerebral anæmia have

been in the main related in connection with the etiology of this
disorder. We shall now proceed to detail those which occur with
cases more likely to engage the attention of the practitioner either on
account of their gravity or protracted duration.

Uncomplicated Chronic Cerebral Anæmia of Adolescents and

Adults.—This condition is one of the common manifestations of
general anæmia. Most anæmic persons are languid, drowsy, suffer
from insomnia, tinnitus aurium, and other signs of imperfect cerebral
irrigation. In some these troubles become alarmingly prominent and
may approach the confines of mental derangement. This is
particularly apt to occur with women who have borne and nursed a
large number of children. In addition to the typical signs of cerebral
anæmia, they exhibit depression, may suffer from hallucinations, and
even become afflicted with lachrymose or suicidal melancholia
(insanity of lactation of the somato-etiological school). Depression of
the mental functions is the most constant symptom of cerebral
anæmia, and the one which most frequently directs the physician's
attention to its existence; its subjects appear mentally blunted, the
apperceptive powers are diminished, and it is difficult for the patient
to interest himself in anything, or when interested to keep up a
mental effort—that is, his attention—any length of time. In more
severe grades of the trouble the patients become somnolent in the
daytime. Contrary to what those who regard sleep as essentially due
to cerebral anæmia might expect, sleep is disturbed, and the patient
is wakeful or suffers from vivid and frightful dreams, or even deliria.
Others pass a quiet night, but are rather in a trance-like condition
than a healthy sleep. Lethargic as the cerebral anæmic person is on
the whole, and unable as he feels himself to exert his will-power
(aboulia), yet he is often irritable, perverse, and petulant in
consequence of that morbid excitability which is a universal attribute
of the overworked or imperfectly nourished nerve-element. The
younger the patient the more likely is the condition apt to impress
one as a stupor, while with older patients irritability is more
prominent. In the former the obtuseness is often rapidly overcome
when the patient assumes the horizontal position.

It was supposed by Abercrombie that an acute exacerbation of

cerebral anæmia of this form in weakly and aged individuals might
terminate in death. This condition corresponded to the so-called
serous apoplexy of the old writers. With increasing accuracy in our
autopsies this condition is more and more rarely recorded, although
the possibility of its occurrence as a pathological rarity cannot be
denied. As a rule, the chronic form of cerebral anæmia when it
terminates fatally, which is exceptional, is marked by a deepening
coma and gradual extinction of the vital processes, the Cheyne-
Stokes phenomenon preceding this.

Patients suffering from chronic cerebral anæmia are afflicted with

morbid irritability of the optic and auditory nerves. Loud sounds and
bright lights are very annoying to them. Roaring, buzzing, and
beating sounds in the ear are common, and scintillations, muscæ
volitantes, and temporary darkening of the visual field—particularly
noticed when the head is suddenly raised—are complained of in all
cases. It is often found that the tinnitus disappears and the hearing
power improves on assuming the horizontal position.

Headache of greater or less severity is found in the majority of

cases: it is more severe in the rapidly-developed forms, and I have
found it to be complained of in agonizing intensity by women who
had risen from childbed and who had flooded considerably. As a
rule, the headache, whether severe or mild, is symmetrical and
verticalar, in some cases associated with an ache subjectively
appearing as if it extended to the back of the orbit. It is remarkable
for its constancy, and its exacerbations are often complicated with
vertigo and nausea, so that it is not infrequently interpreted as a
reflex evidence of gastric disorder. A stitch-like feeling, located in
both temples, is often associated with it.

Occasionally sufferers from chronic cerebral anæmia experience

seizures, or rather exacerbations, of their disorder which approach in
character, while not equalling in degree, an attack of syncope.
Whether in bed or in a chair, they then feel as if their limbs were of
lead; they deem that they cannot stir hand or foot; the other
symptoms related are aggravated; they yawn and breathe deeply,
but hear all that is said by those near them, and do not lose
consciousness. They express themselves as feeling as if everything
around them were about to pass away. One of my patients would
frequently find that if this condition overtook her while lying on one
side, that side would remain numb for some time and be the seat of
a tingling sensation which disappeared on the parts being rubbed.
The same was noticed when she awoke in the morning in a similar
position. To what extent these features were due to the general
anæmia is doubtful. As previously stated, true syncope occurs in
chronic cerebral anæmia, but much less frequently in those subjects
of this disorder who have reached middle life than in adolescents.

The radial pulse in cerebral anæmia does not necessarily show the
anæmic character; not infrequently the general blood-pressure is
increased at the onset of the acute form, and if long continued this
may be followed by a decrease of the same. The pulse-character
may therefore vary greatly in frequency, resistance, and fulness. In
protracted cases it is soft, easily compressible, and rapid.

It is not uncommon to find indications of a slight unilateral

preponderance of the signs of cerebral anæmia. In one case which
terminated in recovery, and was otherwise pure, vertigo was not
produced on turning from the left to the right, but it was produced to
a distressing degree on turning in the opposite direction; in a second,
equally typical, there was for a long time a subjective sensation of
falling over toward the right side.

There appears to be much less constancy in the relationship of the

deficient blood-supply to the severity of the symptoms than is usually
supposed. Much depends upon the time of life at which the disorder
develops: a brain that has acquired stability through education and
exercise is less vulnerable to the influence of general anæmia than
one that has not. The nerve-centres appear, to some extent at least,
to regulate their own blood-supply; and whether it be through a
change in the blood-current rapidity or some other factor neutralizing
the evil effects of the intrinsically inferior quality of the blood, we
must attribute to the self-regulating nutrition power of the brain the
not uncommon phenomena of an active mind in an anæmic body.
And where the general anæmia reaches so high a degree as to
involve the brain, under such circumstances we find that irritability to
sensory impressions and fretfulness are more prominent than the
lethargy and indifference which characterize the juvenile chlorotic
form. Although this distinction is less marked between these two
classes in regard to acutely-produced anæmia, yet it is observable
even there. If in a youth or girl while undergoing phlebotomy cerebral
anæmia were to reach such a degree as to cause subjective sounds,
they would either approach or fall into a faint; but Leuret, the
distinguished cerebral anatomist, while being subjected to the same
procedure, hearing a hissing sound, did not lose consciousness, but
complained that some one must have upset a bottle of acid on a
marble table in the same room, as he supposed he was hearing the
sound of effervescence thus produced.

Much, too, appears to depend on dynamic and other thus far

undiscovered intrinsic conditions of the brain-tissue itself,
irrespective of the mere amount and rapidity of the blood-current. If
the subject be exposed to wasting diseases, to blood-poisons, or to
vicissitudes of temperature and to physical exhaustion in addition to
the causes producing cerebral malnutrition, deliria of a cortical
nature are more apt to characterize the case than in simple anæmia.
These are known as the deliria of inanition, and present themselves
under two forms. The first has been frequently observed in sailors,
travellers, and others who have undergone starvation in exposed
situations, and is tinctured by the psychical influences incident to
such a condition. Just as the Greeley survivors at Cape Sabine,
when reduced to their miserable rations of seal-skin boot-leather and
shrimps, entertained each other with the enumeration of imaginary
culinary luxuries, so others who have suffered in the same way
declaim about gorgeous banquets in the midst of a howling
wilderness, or, as occurred to a miner who lost his way in Idaho a
few winters ago, experienced hallucinatory visions of houses, kitchen
utensils, and persons with baskets of provisions. In others the terror
of the situation leads to the development of rambling and incoherent
delusions of persecution.
The second form, regarded as a variety of starvation delirium, is
found in the post-febrile periods of typhoid and other exhausting
fevers. In aged persons it may even develop shortly after the onset
of the disease. It is usually unsystematized, of a depressive cast,
and may be associated with a condition resembling melancholia
agitata. In a small proportion of cases insanity of the ordinary types,
but more commonly of the special kinds comprised in the group of
post-febrile insanity, develops from the anæmic fever delirium as its
starting-point.

The spurious hydrocephalus (hydrocephaloid, hydrencephaloid) of

Marshall Hall and Abercrombie, referred to in the section on Etiology,
is an important condition for the diagnostician to recognize. A child
suffering from this disorder presents many symptoms which are
customarily regarded as characteristic of tubercular meningitis or of
chronic hydrocephalus; thus the pupils are narrow—sometimes
unequal;30 there is strabismus, and there may be even nuchal
opisthotonos, while the somnolent state in which the little patient
usually lies may deepen into a true coma, in which the pupils are
dilated, do not react to light, nor do the eyelids close when the
cornea is touched. Ominous as this state appears, it may be
completely recovered from under stimulating and restorative
treatment. On inquiry it is found that the symptoms above mentioned
were preceded by cholera infantum or some other exhausting
complaint, such as a dysentery or diarrhœa, and that the somnolent
condition in which infants are often found toward the close of such
complaints passed gradually into the more serious condition
described.31 The infants thus affected do not, however, sleep as
healthy children do, but moan and cry, while apparently unconscious
of their surroundings. The surface of the body is cool and pale; the
pulse and respiration are normal, except in the comatose period, but
the former is easily compressible. The chief points distinguishing
hydrocephaloid from true hydrocephalus and other diseases
associated with similar symptoms are the following: 1st, There is no
rise of temperature; 2d, the pupils are equal; 3d, the fontanelle is
sunken in; 4th, the pulse and respiration, with the exception stated,
are natural; 5th, there is an antecedent history of an exhausting
abdominal disorder; 6th, also a facial appearance characteristic of
the latter.
30 This is not admitted by most writers, but does occur exceptionally.

31 It should not be forgotten, however, that very similar symptoms occur after cholera
infantum, with a much graver pathological condition—namely, marantic thrombosis of
the sinuses.

One of the gravest and rarest forms of cerebral anæmia is one which
occurs as a result of extreme general anæmia in very young infants.
In a remarkable case which I have had an opportunity of studying,
the abolition of certain cerebral functions reached such a degree that
the opinion of a number of physicians was in favor of tubercular
meningitis.32 There was at the time of my examination complete
extremity hemiplegia, and there had been conjugated deviation,
restlessness in sleep, and dulness in the waking hours: all these
symptoms except the hemiplegia disappeared whenever a more
assimilable and nutritious food was used than the one previously
employed. On one occasion there were evidences of disturbed vaso-
motor innervation; on several, convulsive movements. This history,
associated with ordinary evidences of general anæmia, covered a
period of eighteen months, without the slightest abnormality of
temperature being noted or discoverable during that period. The
mucous surfaces of this child were almost colorless, certainly without
any indication of the normal tinge; the mother had nursed it, and her
milk had been found to possess scarcely any nutritive value. The
case terminated fatally at the age of twenty months.
32 It was stated by an experienced practitioner that death occurred with unmistakable
symptoms of tubercular meningitis. Certainly, the absence of temperature disturbance
at the time of the hemiplegic and other exacerbations, as well as other important
features for a period exceeding a year, shows that whatever favorable soil the earlier
condition may have furnished for the secondary development of such or other gross
structural disease, tubercular meningitis did not exist at the time; while the absence of
pupillary and optic-nerve symptoms, as well as the rapid changes from day to day or
week to week under dietetic treatment, militate against the assumption of any other
organic affection incident to childhood.
Partial Cerebral Anæmia.—Most writers on cerebral anæmia discuss
a number of varieties of partial cerebral anæmia as distinguished
from the acute and chronic general forms. Some of the conditions
thus described properly appertain to the angio-spastic form of
hemicrania, others to epilepsy, and the majority to circulatory
disturbances dependent on arterial disease. Aside from the partial
cerebral anæmia resulting from surgical causes, I am acquainted
with but one evidence of limited cerebral anæmia which can be
regarded as independent of the neuroses or of organic disease, and
that is the scintillating scotoma. This symptom, in the only case in
which I observed it, occurred in a medical student, accompanied by
pallor and nausea in consequence of the disgust produced in him by
the combined odors of a dissecting-room and of a neighboring
varnish-factory. The totally blind area of the visual field was strictly
hemianopsic in distribution and bounded by a colored zone
scintillating, to use the sufferer's words, like an aurora borealis. The
attack, probably protracted by his great alarm at being blind in one-
half of the visual field, lasted three hours. As the cause in this case
was a psychical impression and accompanied by the ordinary signs
of that fainting which is not an uncommon occurrence in the
dissecting-room; as, furthermore, the individual in question never
had a headache except in connection with febrile affections, and
then in the lightest form, and is neither neurotic himself nor has a
neurotic ancestry or relatives,—I regard it as the result of a simple
arterial spasm intensified in the visual field of one hemisphere,
analogous to the more general spasm of ordinary syncope.33
33 It may be remembered that Wollaston had scintillating scotomata, and that after his
death a small focus of softening was found in the one visual field. Ordinarily, this
disturbance is associated with hemicrania.

DIAGNOSIS.—There is so little difficulty in recognizing the nature of

those cases of acute cerebral anæmia which depend on
recognizable anæmia-producing causes that it is unnecessary to
point out their special diagnostic features. With regard to chronic
cerebral anæmia, and its differentiation from other circulatory brain
disorders, I refer to the last article. In this place it will be necessary