A System for Integrated Measurements for Human Movement

申请人有强烈的研究兴趣和活动，旨在了解人类运动的潜在认知，神经和物理机制，并将所获得的知识转移到包括但不限于制造业，教育，医疗保健和体育等领域的新产品和服务中。虽然我们在这些领域的研究项目在过去几年里取得了巨大的进展，但我们已经达到了一个新的研究工具势在必行的门槛。人体运动是复杂的神经和物理过程相互作用的结果。然而，我们的工具只能让我们一次研究其中一个过程，要么是神经生理学的，要么是生物力学的。因此，我们在很大程度上忽视了其他与正在调查的运动密切相关的进程。因此，我们的研究结果是孤立和碎片化的，是不完整的，有偏见的，甚至可能是错误的。为了解决这个问题，我们建议建立一个人体运动的综合测量系统，该系统包含以下传感器模式：高密度肌电图（HD-EMG）放大器，用于测量肌肉最小功能单元，运动单元（MU）的电活动；和一个最先进的测力计测量关节扭矩在静态和动态收缩。该系统与这两种测量方式相结合，将使我们能够以系统和生物辅助的方式分析人体运动的相互关联的神经和物理过程，因为它同时捕获了从执行器（即肌肉内和协同肌群（HD-EMG）中的mu的爆发模式）到末端执行器（即扭矩）的人体运动过程链。在上肢和下肢的不同关节和力产生的速度。此外，该系统能够在静态和动态收缩期间以可重复和一致的方式测量这些信号。综上所述，该系统对于建立一个具有前所未有的能力的人体运动分析综合研究平台是必不可少的。据估计，在未来5年内，将有超过50个HQP在他们的培训和研究中使用该系统，未来几年还会有更多。

The applicants share strong research interests and activities directed toward understanding the underlying cognitive, neural and physical mechanisms of human movement, and in transferring the acquired knowledge to develop novel products and services in areas including, but not limited to, manufacturing, education, healthcare, and sports. Although our research programs in these areas have made tremendous progresses in the past years, we have reached a threshold where a new research tool is imperative. Human movement is the result of an interaction among complex neural and physical processes. However, we only have tools that allow us to investigate one of these processes at a time, either neurophysiological or biomechanical. Consequently, we are largely blind to the other closely linked processes integral to the movements under investigation. As a result, the outputs of our research are isolated and fragmented, which is incomplete, biased and can even be erroneous. To address this problem, we propose to build an integrated measurement system for human movement that incorporates the following sensor modalities: a high-density electromyographic (HD-EMG) amplifier to measure electric activities of the smallest functional units of muscles, motor units (MU); and a state-of-the-art dynamometer to measure joint torque during static and dynamic contractions. This system, integrated with these two measurement modalities, will allow us to analyze inter-linked neural and physical processes of human movement in a systematic and biofidelic manner, as it simultaneously captures the chain of processes underlying human movement from the actuators, i.e. the bursting patterns of the MUs within a muscle and among synergistic muscle group (HD-EMG), to the end-effectors i.e. the torque, velocity produced at different joints and forces at the upper and lower extremities. Further, the system is capable of measuring these signals during both static and dynamic contractions, in a repeatable and consistent manner. In summary, the proposed system is essential and imperative to the establishment of an integrated research platform for human movement analysis, with unprecedented capability. It is estimated that more than 50 HQP will use the system in their training and research over the next 5 years, and more for years to come.