The goal of this project is to develop physics-based simulation and animation of human movements in a visual, interactive, three dimensional software environment. The system will allow simulation and evaluation of locomotion (walking, running and climbing) under a variety of loading conditions, over a variety of terrain and when constrained by clothing or equipment. Such a system will be an improvement over commercial human modeling systems currently available which generate movements either from direct motion capture, key frame interpolation, or inverse kinematics. The advantages of physics-based forward dynamics simulations are improved realism of human movement and increased generalizabilty to novel task conditions. Phase I efforts will concentrate on developing a thorough and detailed technical assessment and working software prototype. In Phase II, we will complete the software development efforts needed to realize an efficient, effective and usable human movement dynamics tool. The software framework for this work will be the Transom Jackr human modeling system, now commercially developed and supported by Transom Technologies, Inc.
Benefits:A validatable, physics-based simulation framework allows for virtual prototyping of equipment configurations and loading arrangements, assessment of task feasibility, and more realistic representations of human movement in virtual environments. Ultimately this framework will be of use to ergonomists, equipment designers and medical clinicians.
