Collaborative Research: The Effects of Musculoskeletal Design on Bipedal Walking and Running Performance

在猿类和其他灵长类动物中，人类的背部、骨盆和下肢的大小和形状是独一无二的，所有这些都有助于我们轻松地用两条腿走路和跑步。该项目的主要目标是阐明最早的人类祖先的行走和跑步能力，人类化石记录表明，他们只拥有这些解剖学特征的一部分。为了实现这一目标，该项目将把人类和黑猩猩的运动实验与计算机模拟结合起来，使用人类、黑猩猩和阿法南猿（350万年前的人类祖先）的肌肉和骨骼解剖的详细模型。这种综合实验建模/模拟方法将建立解剖特征与行走和跑步能力之间的关系。该项目将把生物人类学和计算科学研究联系起来，包括开发新工具，为从人类祖先的化石推断行走和跑步能力提供严格的定量基础。它还将促进本科、研究生和博士后水平的教育和培训，并包括对促进学术多样性和包容性的坚定承诺。所产生的知识将被纳入高中学生的年度生物力学推广活动，以及为生物人类学研究人员提供计算机建模和模拟技能的研讨会。与此项目相关的数据、模型和算法将在网上与其他科学家、教育工作者和公众共享。在过去的700到800万年里，我们的肌肉、骨骼和神经系统已经适应了地面上的运动。我们的血统是如何成为熟练的步行者和跑步者的，最早的人类在运动方面发生了什么适应？这个问题将通过整合经验运动数据与肌肉骨骼系统的详细模型和预测模拟的最新进展来解决。首先，将建立一个完整的实验数据集，用于研究两足黑猩猩和人类在匹配速度下的三维肢体运动、力和成本。该数据集将用于验证两个类群中基于模型的步行和跑步预测模拟，并评估三个生态相关的性能标准，包括能量成本、肌肉疲劳和关节负荷，以及所有三者的加权组合。Au的三维模型。然后将使用阿法种的最佳表现标准来预测该物种的行走和跑步能力，并通过敏感性分析评估不确定性。总之，这些数据将为开发早期类似人猿的可变形猿肌肉骨骼模型提供基础，以验证与黑猩猩的两足运动相比，下背部和骨盆的进化增强了两足行走和跑步能力的假设。最后，将开发一种新的双水平预测模拟方法，用于发现驱动双足运动解剖特征进化的选择力。这种综合方法将提供有关最早人类行走和跑步能力的关键信息，而这些信息是仅通过比较化石研究或实验无法获得的。本项目由生物人类学和生理机制与生物力学学科联合资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Humans are unique among apes and other primates in the size and shape of our back, pelvis and lower limbs, all of which contribute to the ease with which we walk and run on two limbs. The main goal of this project is to elucidate the walking and running capabilities of the earliest human ancestors, who – the human fossil record indicates – possessed only a subset of these anatomical traits. To achieve this goal, this project will integrate locomotor experiments of humans and chimpanzees with computer simulations using detailed models of the muscle and skeletal anatomies of humans, chimpanzees and Australopithecus afarensis, a ~3.5 million year old human ancestor. This integrative experiment-modeling/simulation approach will establish relationships between anatomical traits and walking and running capabilities. The project will link biological anthropology and computational science research, including the development of new tools that provide a rigorous, quantitative basis for inferring walking and running capabilities from fossils of human ancestors. It will also contribute to education and training at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, and include a strong commitment to advancing academic diversity and inclusion. The knowledge generated will be incorporated into an annual biomechanics outreach event for high school students and a workshop providing computer modeling and simulation skills for researchers in biological anthropology. Data, models, and algorithms associated with this project will be shared online with other scientists, educators, and the general public.Over the past 7 to 8 million years, our muscular, skeletal, and neural systems have been adapted for overground locomotion. How did our lineage become skilled walkers and runners, and what locomotor adaptations occurred among the earliest hominins? This question will be addressed by integrating empirical locomotion data with detailed models of the musculoskeletal system and the latest advances in predictive simulation. First, a comprehensive experimental dataset will be established for the 3-D limb motion, forces, and cost for bipedal chimpanzee and human locomotion at matched speeds. This dataset will be used to validate model-based, predictive simulations of walking and running in both taxa, and evaluate three ecologically-relevant performance criteria, including energy cost, muscle fatigue, and joint loading, as well as a weighted combination of all three. A 3-D model of Au. afarensis will then be used with the best-performing criteria to predict walking and running capabilities for this species, with uncertainty assessed via sensitivity analyses. Together, these data will provide the basis for developing an early hominin-like deformable ape musculoskeletal model to test the hypothesis that lower back and pelvis evolution enhanced bipedal walking and running capabilities as compared to bipedal locomotion in chimpanzees. Finally, a new bi-level predictive simulation approach will be developed for discovering the selective forces that drive anatomical trait evolution in bipedal locomotion. This integrative approach will provide critical information about walking and running capabilities in the earliest hominins that have been unapproachable using comparative fossil-based studies or experimentation alone. This project is jointly supported by the Biological Anthropology and Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics Programs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.