Structure design and analysis of high adaptability massage manipulators
DENG Ke
MENG Chunling
LIU Guangwei
ZHAN Jiawen
ZHANG Qing
Abstract：[Objective]Aiming at the defects of traditional massage manipulators,such as limited application scenarios,single manipulation,high structural rigidity and poor adaptability,a highly adaptive 3-finger massage manipulator with a large envelope range and multiple massage postures was designed to meet the requirements of stability,force and safety in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)massage.[Methods]The manipulator body was designed by adopting an underactuated tendon-driven transmission,a differential pulley mechanism,and a torsion spring structure designed with reference to the coupling ratio of human hand joints.A kinematic model was established via the improved D-H method.The workspace was analyzed using Matlab software,and the adaptability and massage performance were verified by Adams simulation.[Results]The results show that the maximum movement range of the index finger and middle finger of the manipulator is approximately 200 mm,and that of the thumb is about 150 mm,which could realize manipulations such as finger kneading and pinching.The massage force is stabilized at 23-33 N,and the movement is stable without rigid impact.The adaptability and stability of the manipulator are superior to those of the traditional link transmission mechanism,and meet the needs of TCM massage.
Keywords：Massage manipulatorTendon rope driveAdaptabilityKinematic analysisSimulation analysis
Publication Date：2025-12-15
Online Publishing Date：2026-09-12(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：9( 89-97 )