CAREER: Towards An Optimization-Based and Experimentally Verified Predictive Theory of Human Locomotion

这个学院早期职业发展奖的研究目标是获得一个足够准确和广泛适用的关于人们如何行走、奔跑和稳定运动的预测性理论。通过计算能量消耗最小化的运动，已经有可能预测人类行走和跑步的某些方面。然而，目前尚不清楚这种最小化是否可以同时预测许多不同实验的结果，或者不同受试者之间的差异。PI将使用大规模逆优化来尝试推导出单个目标函数，该函数可能与能量使用松散相关，当在计算机人体模型的背景下最小化该函数时，可以预测许多不同实验的结果。拟议的项目有四个相互关联的部分：(1)合并各种情况下的运动数据：不同的速度、倾斜、身体变化，如增加质量等；(2)逆优化，以推断目标函数，当最小化时，同时解释收集的数据的很大一部分(但不是全部)；(3)正向优化，以预测在逆优化中未使用的运动情况下的行为；以及(4)使用最优化来预测对扰动的响应，并与扰动实验进行比较。例如，一个准确和广泛适用的人体运动理论将使基于模型的系统假肢和矫形器设计成为可能，并为运动病理学的诊断和治疗提供信息，包括可能指导手术干预。该项目将把这项研究纳入一系列针对不同学生群体的教育活动中，从K-12到研究生。PI将与俄亥俄州立大学的女性工程项目合作，为女高中生创建一个教育模块，旨在增加她们在STEM学科继续深造的可能性。这些教育模块将强调数学理论、计算机模拟和科学与工程实验之间的相互作用，以及在提高人类生活质量方面的相互作用。

The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Develpment (CAREER) award is to obtain a sufficiently accurate, and broadly applicable, predictive theory of how people walk, run, and stabilize their movements. It is already possible to predict some aspects of human walking and running, by computing motions that minimize energy consumption. However, it is not known if such minimization can simultaneously predict the results of many different experiments, or the differences between different subjects. The PI will use large-scale inverse optimization to try to deduce a single objective function, perhaps loosely correlated with energy use, which, when minimized in the context of a computer model of the human-body, predicts the outcomes of many different experiments. The proposed project has four inter-related pieces: (1) Consolidation of locomotion data under a variety of situations: different speeds, inclines, body changes like addition of masses, etc; (2) Inverse optimization to infer the objective function which when minimized, simultaneously explains a substantial fraction (but not all) of the collected data; (3) Forward optimization to predict behavior in locomotor situations not used in the inverse optimization; and (4) Predict responses to perturbations using optimality and compare with perturbation experiments. An accurate and broadly applicable theory of human locomotion will, for instance, enable the systematic model-based design of prosthetic and orthotic devices, and inform the diagnosis and treatment of movement pathologies, including possibly guiding surgical interventions. The project will integrate the research into a number of educational activities, aimed at different student groups, from K-12 to graduate students. The PI will work with OSU's Women in Engineering program to create an educational module for female high school students, targeted at increasing their likelihood of pursuing further education in the STEM disciplines. These educational modules will emphasize the interplay between mathematical theories, computer simulations, and experiments in science and engineering, and in improving the quality of human life.