Kinematic Modeling and Simulation of Human Arm Reach

Modeling the human arm and calculation of the human arm reach are important for designing workspaces. An appropriate workspace design would reduce musculoskeletal disorders and wrist injuries in repetitive tasks. Among different human arm workspace designs and reach calculations, computer-based methods have recently attracted significant attention. This is because conventional experimental methods do not provide sufficient flexibility for interactive design modifications and integration of different aspects for workspace design. Despite advances in computer-aided design, many computer-based methods still rely on mock-ups and experimental set-ups. In this work, a computer-aided method is investigated for predicting the human arm reach. The kinematic modeling convention of Denavit-Hertenberg is adopted for formulating the reach. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. The methodology enables visualization of the reach volume of the human arm and could be easily adjusted for different human operators.