Computational Models of Humans: Movement and Contact

我的长期目标是创建有用的计算模型，以了解人类如何移动以及与环境的物理交互。 重点不是对运动数据进行黑盒建模。相反，它是对底层系统本身进行建模，作为生物机器：电机（肌肉），传感器（特别是肌肉和皮肤中的机械感受器），结构（骨骼和结缔组织）和软件（神经控制）。通过对潜在的感觉运动系统进行建模，我们可以更好地概括新的情况，并获得对生物学原理的基本见解。 在短期内，我的目标是（1）创建新的模拟软件，用于基于物理的感觉运动外围建模（2）构建人眼和手部的逼真模型，以及仿生机器人（3）评估和验证这些模型，以便他们的预测是可信的。 我专注于眼睛和手，因为它们提供了互补的见解，并且在角色动画中很有用。 人体运动的模型需要在一个巨大的应用范围。 计算机动画的一个中心目标是合成人类角色与他们的环境交互，但目前的实践依赖于大量的用户努力和特设技术。我们的工作可以把它转化为人类模拟。 人体运动的真实模型在生物力学、人体工程学、神经科学和医学中也很重要，并可能导致基于生物学原理的新机器人设计。 学生和博士后学员参与这项研究的各个方面，并将在跨学科的环境中获得广泛的技能，包括开发先进的仿真软件系统，测量和分析人类的表现与世界一流的仪器，计算机图形学，生物力学和机器人技术。

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.