USE OF ROBOTICS TECHNOLOGY TO MEASURE FRICTION IN ANIMAL JOINTS

A new system to measure friction in animal joints has been designed. T he system utilizes a robotic arm. Force control of the robotic arm was used to survey the geometry of a sliding surface before the friction of the joint is measured, This enables the precise measurement of fric tion in joints of complex shape, To test the reliability of the new sy stem we took friction measurements from 10 rabbit stifles, The experim ental conditions were: (i) intact joints, (ii) joints after the surfac es were washed, The mean values of the frictional coefficients were 0. 008 in the intact joints and 0.015 in the washed joints, These mean va lues were similar to some previous results obtained from canine hip jo ints under the same experimental conditions, Furthermore, the standard deviations in this study were smaller than in the previous study, The se facts suggest that the new system is reliable. Relevance-The pathol ogy of osteoarthritis is related to the lubrication mechanisms of join ts. In any study of the lubrication mechanisms, an accurate friction m easurement is important, In this study we used robotics technology to measure friction in joints.