Interdisciplinary Applications of Kinematics : Proceedings of the International Conference, Lima, Perú, January 9-11, 2008

Kinematics is an exciting area of computational mechanics which plays a central role in a great variety of fields and industrial applications. Apart from research in pure kinematics, the field offers challenging problems of practical relevance that need to be solved in an interdisciplinary manner in order for new technologies to develop. The present book collects a number of important contributions presented during the First Conference on Interdisciplinary Applications of Kinematics (IAK 2008) held in Lima, Peru. To share inspiration and non-standard solutions among the different applications, the conference brought together scientists from several research fields related to kinematics, such as for example, computational kinematics, multibody systems, industrial machines, robotics, biomechanics, mechatronics and chemistry. The conference focused on all aspects of kinematics, namely modeling, optimization, experimental validation, industrial applications, theoretical kinematical methods, and design. The results should be of interest for practicing and research engineers as well as Ph.D. students from the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering, computer science, and computer graphics. Front Matter....Pages 1-7 Double-Ring Polyhedral Linkages....Pages 1-17 Robot Handwriting: Why and How?....Pages 19-35 A Kinematics Based Methology for the Design of Gangways and Coupler Housings of Railway Vehicles....Pages 37-54 Investigation of Self Resonance in Vibration Excitation Systems....Pages 55-62 Kinematic Criteria for Structural Synthesis of Maximally Regular Parallel Robots with Planar Motion of the Moving Platform....Pages 63-81 A Design-To-Task Approach for Wire Robots....Pages 83-97 Gait Simulator Based on the Parallel Stewart-Gough Platform....Pages 99-108 A Proposal for a New Definition of the Degree of Freedom of a Mechanism....Pages 109-117 Modelling of Mechanisms in Container Glass Forming Machines....Pages 119-133 Predicting Protein Conformational Transitions by Trajectory Planning Through Torsion Angle Propensity Maps....Pages 135-149 Potential Applications of Hybrid Systems in Biomechanics....Pages 151-160 An Alternative for Human Gait Modeling Using the Bondgraph Technique....Pages 161-173 Optimized Kinematical Positioning and Guidance of a Serial Robot for Motion Simulation....Pages 175-182 A One-Degree-of-Freedom Spherical Wrist for the Modelling of Passive Motion of the Human Ankle Joint....Pages 183-195 Back Matter....Pages 0--1 Kinematics is an exciting area of computational mechanics which plays a central role in a great variety of fields and industrial applications. Apart from research in pure kinematics, the field offers challenging problems of practical relevance that need to be solved in an interdisciplinary manner in order for new technologies to develop. The present book collects a number of important contributions presented during the First Conference on Interdisciplinary Applications of Kinematics (IAK 2008) held in Lima, Peru. To share inspiration and non-standard solutions among the different applications, the conference brought together scientists from several research fields related to kinematics, such as for example, computational kinematics, multibody systems, industrial machines, robotics, biomechanics, mechatronics and chemistry. The conference focused on all aspects of kinematics, namely modeling, optimization, experimental validation, industrial applications, theoretical kinematical methods, and design. The results should be of interest for practicing and research engineers as well as Ph. D. students from the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering, computer science, and computer graphics