Introduction

A second order linear model was created to model the rotational motion of an arm at the elbow. Image capturing software was used to collect the data. This type of modeling is very useful in creating realistic digital animation, or for examining injury sustained due to different external shocks like car crashes. The model that was constructed in this example was fairly simple. The motion of the arm was modeled as a rotational mass-spring-damper system, where the bicep is modeled as a spring and the tricep as a damper. This method can be used to model other biomechanical systems like the reaction of legs when landing from a jump, or the contortions of a gymnast during a flip, or perhaps a cat flipping itself over in mid-air.