Human posture control on a dynamic platform

亲爱的EPSRC工作人员：我很感激你可能有一些困难，适合这个项目到一个特定的研究领域，因为它是跨学科的。它是结构工程和运动科学的接口，对医疗康复和健康老龄化有重要意义。该项目试图解决的研究问题/项目的目标：人类在移动表面上站立或行走时使用的平衡和控制方法是什么？这个主题特别重要，因为平衡控制可能会在患有中风，帕金森病等疾病的人中受到影响，正在从膝盖/髋关节置换中恢复或只是老化。这些人站立时已经不太稳定，并且更有可能在地板移动时遇到问题，这不仅可能发生在空中，铁路，水路运输道路上，而且可能发生在垂直活动地板，人行桥或看台和摇摆的人行桥甚至高层建筑物等结构上。对这种运动的耐受性甚至对于年轻人和健全人也知之甚少，并且没有关于降低这种耐受性的因素的信息。将采取的方法来回答这些问题（学生实际将做什么）：研究将探索不同类型的地板运动（滚动，俯仰，起伏和摇摆）在不同水平和频率下的平衡和稳定性机制，代表运输和结构上的实际情况。它还将探索其他因素，如触觉（触摸），听觉和视觉线索，提高或降低耐受性。反过来，这将允许更好地设计适合平衡受损的人的环境。这项研究将得到埃克塞特最先进的基础设施（EPSRC VSimulators虚拟现实和运动模拟设施）的支持。将使用一系列技术，如光学运动捕捉、测力板、惯性测量单元、自动运动捕捉系统（CODA）和无线技术（伊穆斯），收集人体和结构的运动和力数据。人体和（结构）地板运动的线性和非线性关系将被数学建模。研究的新工程和/或物理科学内容（将其置于EPSRC职权范围内的科学）：该项目将使用VSimulators设施（EP/P020690/1）。新颖之处在于，这将是第一次将联合收割机动作捕捉、虚拟现实和地面反作用力测量结合在一个模拟的移动结构（建筑物、桥梁）或交通工具（公共汽车、电车、火车、飞机）上。这将提供无与伦比的机会来研究所有起作用的因素，具有非常大的参数空间。

Dear EPSRC staff: I appreciate you may have some difficulty fitting this project into a particular research area, because it is interdisciplinary. It is at the interface of structural engineering and movement science with implications for medical rehabilitation and healthy ageing.The research questions the project is trying to address/the objectives of the project:What are the balance and control methods used by humans standing or walking on moving surfaces.This topic is particularly important because balance control can be compromised in people who have suffered strokes, have diseases such as Parkinsons, are recovering from knee/hip replacement or are simply aging. Such people are already less stable while standing and are more likely to experience problems where the floor is moving, which can occur not just in air, rail, road of water transport but on structures such as vertically lively floors, footbridges or grandstands and swaying footbridges or even tall buildings. Tolerance to such motion is poorly understand even forthe young and able-bodied, and there is no information on the factors that reduce such tolerance.The approach that will be taken to answer these questions (what the student will actually be doing):The research will explore the mechanisms of balance and stability for different types of floor motion (roll, pitch, heave and sway) at different levels and frequencies representingreal situations in transport and on structures. It will also explore other factors such as haptic (touch), auditory and visual cues that improve or reduce tolerance. In turn this will allow better design of environments suitable for people with compromised balance. The research will be supported by a state-of-the-art infrastructure (the EPSRC VSimulators virtual reality and motion simulation facility) at Exeter. Human and structure movement and force data will be collected using a range of technology such as optical motion capture, force plates, inertial measurement units, automated motion capture systems (CODA) and wireless technologies (IMUs). Linear and non-linear relations of human body and (structure) floor movement will be modelled mathematically.The novel engineering and/or physical sciences content of the research (the science that places it within EPSRC's remit):The project will use the VSimulators facility (EP/P020690/1). The novelty is that this will be the first time to combine motion capture, virtual reality and ground reaction force measurement on an a simulated moving structure (building, bridge) or transport (bus, tram, train, plane). This will provide unparalleled opportunities to study all the factors at play, with a very large parameter space.