THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AN INTERACTIVE NECK FOR EJECTION SYSTEM TESTING MANIKIN MADE UP OF COMPLEMENTARY SETS OF FLEXIBLE INFLATABLE BLADDER ACTUATORS (ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES) WORKING ON A COLUMN OF JOINTS WITH RESILIENT INTERSPACED DISCS HELD

THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AN INTERACTIVE NECK FOR EJECTION SYSTEM TESTING MANIKIN MADE UP OF COMPLEMENTARY SETS OF FLEXIBLE INFLATABLE BLADDER ACTUATORS (ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES) WORKING ON A COLUMN OF JOINTS WITH RESILIENT INTERSPACED DISCS HELD WITHIN THEIR NORMAL DEGREES OF MOVEMENT BY SYNTHETIC LIGAMENT-LIKE ENVELOPES (ARTIFICIAL NECK STRUCTURE) TO PROVIDE THE MOST DYNAMIC AND REALISTIC SIMULATION OF FORM AND FUNCTION OF THE HUMAN NECK. NOT ONLY CAN EXTERNAL FORCES BE MEASURED BY PROPER PLACEMENT AND INTEGRATION OF MULTIAXIS FORCE TRANSDUCERS FEEDING SIGNALS TO THE NECK'S COMPUTER, BUT ALSO PREDETERMINED MUSCLE REACTIONS TO EXTERNALLY APPLIED VERTICAL, HORIZONTAL AND TORSIONAL FORCES CAN BE COMPUTED TO GENERATE ARTIFICIAL MUSCLE FORCES WITHIN THE INTERACTIVE NECK TO SIMULATE THE BIOFIDELITY OF HUMAN NECK RESPONSE. THE IMMEDIATE GOAL TO BE DEMONSTRATED IN PHASE I, IS THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A SINGLE ARTIFICIAL MUSCLE SET TO WORK ON A SINGLE DEGREE OF FREEDOM COLUMN OF JOINTS INTEGRATED WITH FORCE FEEDBACK SENSORS COMPUTER CONTROLLED TO TEST AND EVALUATE THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS CONCEPT AND TO PREPARE THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN SPECIFICATION OF COMPLETE INTERACTIVE NECK MOUNTED ON A STATE-OF-THE-ART TEST MANIKIN.