A Humanoid Shoulder Joint Replica for Enhancing PPG Sensor Fidelity in BP Monitoring

Overview

Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, contributing to strokes, heart attacks, and kidney failure worldwide. Wearable devices utilizing photoplethysmography (PPG) provide an opportunity for continuous, non-invasive BP monitoring, but their accuracy is affected by motion artifacts from daily activities. The current research’s objective was to design and build a spherical parallel manipulator (SPM) to replicate the biomechanics of the human shoulder. SPMs, with their three degrees of rotational freedom, were chosen for their ability to precisely emulate complex shoulder motions. The work process included computer-aided design (CAD) modeling, finite element modeling (static load and buckling analysis), iterative refinements, and the creation of a functional prototype. The parts were 3D printed and assembled at Purdue University’s BioCom lab, where the SPM was connected to three motors and an Arduino controller to enable 3D motion. The motion fidelity was tested for replication of human shoulder movements when integrated into a humanoid arm system. This SPM-enabled humanoid arm would provide a controlled platform to study motion artifacts in PPG-based BP monitoring. By replicating thousands of movements in the next phase of research, the system would be able to generate comprehensive datasets to train AI models to filter out motion-induced distortions.

Competition history

• AJAS 2026 Category not listed

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