MS049 - Quo Vadis, Human Body Models? Development, Validation and Application in the Age of AI
Keywords: Biomechanical Applications, Computational Methods, Human Body Models, Neuromuscular control, Biomechanics
The digital representations of the human body within the field of biomechanics and mechanobiology become progressively sophisticated with the evolution of computational methods in applied sciences and engineering. As a result, there is a growing need to review, survey and discuss state-of-the-art advances and identify key research directions that will shape the future development of the human body models (HBMs). To tackle these challenges, this Minisymposium covers the emerging fields related to both computational approaches finite element method (FEM) and multibody (MB) dynamics, and addresses the following topics of human body modelling:
1. Passive and Active HBMs. In addition to all the existing features of passive models, active HBMs incorporate muscle activation and neuromuscular control systems. The Minisymposium aims to explore how these complementary muscular system sub-models and codes evolve and converge to address complex biomechanical challenges of the human reflex and movement modelling.
2. Neuromuscular control algorithms for Active HBMs. The Minisymposium intends to investigate the implementation of various neuromuscular control strategies and algorithms with subsequent integration to anatomically accurate HBMs. Different solutions to unique challenges that require interdisciplinary collaboration are accepted, ranging from PID controllers and muscle length feedback to EMG-based control and Reinforcement Learning.
3. Multi-industry HBM applications. The Minisymposium seeks to survey deployment of different types of HBMs in multiple industries like automotive safety, healthcare, medical device development, sports biomechanics, ergonomics and workplace safety.
4. HBM Personalisation. The Minisymposium pursues to analyse applications of patient-specific modelling techniques, which incorporate individual anatomical, physiological, and anthropometric parameters to create tailored HBMs. Such models can simulate individual physiological responses, enabling precision medicine and personalised safety systems.
