| This thesis will address the development of tools for musculoskeletal system analysis, leveraging methodologies which have revolutionized the engineering domains. In particular, screw-theoretic modeling and analysis techniques, typically seen in the context of parallel robotic manipulators, will be used to develop an analysis framework that potentially can model, simulate, and analyze a redundant musculoskeletal system with (i) an adequate degree of speed and (ii) and adequate degree of redundancy resolution, such that it may facilitate real-time simulations and analyses.; The details of this framework will be examined within the context of a specific case scenario---the musculoskeletal analysis of the jaw closure of a saber-toothed cat (Smilodon-fatalis). Specifically the skull, mandible, and masticatory muscles of the animal will be modeled as a redundantly actuated parallel manipulator. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
