Computational Models of Humans: Movement and Contact

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My long term goal is to create useful computational models of how humans move and physically interact with their environment. The focus is not on black-box modeling of movement data. Rather, it is on modeling the underlying system itself, as a biological machine: the motors (muscles), sensors (esp. mechanoreceptors in muscle and skin), structures (skeleton and connective tissues), and software (neural control). By modeling the underlying sensorimotor system we could achieve better generalization to novel situations and gain fundamental insights into biological principles. In the short term my goals are (1) to create new simulation software for physically based modeling of the sensorimotor periphery (2) to construct realistic models of the human eye and hand, and of a biomimetic robot (3) estimation and validation of these models, so that their predictions are credible. I focus on the eye and the hand because they provide complementary insights and are useful in character animation. Models of human movement are required in an enormous range of applications. A central goal of computer animation is the synthesis of human characters interacting with their environment, but current practice relies on significant user effort and ad hoc techniques. Our work could transform it into human simulation. Realistic models of human movement are also important in biomechanics, ergonomics, neuroscience, and medicine and could lead to new robot designs based on biological principles. Students and postdoctoral trainees are involved in all aspects of this research, and will acquire a broad range of skills in an interdisciplinary environment, including development of advanced simulation software systems, measurement and analysis of human performance with world class instrumentation, computer graphics, biomechanics, and robotics.