The presentation covers the interests of the biomechanical engineers. It cores the modelling and simulation of the human motion. Different tools can be used to investigate this task.

1. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Student: Stephan Kalapis B.Sc.
Group/Institution: RWTH Aachen
Supervisor: Dr.-Ing. mult. Mikhail A. Petrov
Department «Machines and metal forming technologies»
named after I.A. Noritzin
Concept of a model for the human motion
MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

2. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
• Stephan Kalapis, B.Sc.
• Student at RWTH Aachen, Germany
• Mechanical Engineering, specialisation in space engineering
• First semester of master-studies
Aachen
Kaliningrad

3. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Wanted: A model for human motion
• The human motion is complex
– Different moving parts
• With moving subparts
– Each part is dependent of any other (sub)part
– Every part may have different dimensions and/or moving speed
• For further research it is essential to understand this motion
• A software/device is needed to learn how the human motion works
– As students shall study it, this software/device must be applicable to
different end devices like PC, smartphone or tablet

4. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
What did I do?
• Literature research
• Found different ways for solving the task
• Tried different solutions on my own
– Programing a script
– Animate a motion

5. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
First idea: polar coordinates
• Polar coordinates seem to be
suitable for this assignment
• They only consider positions –
no masses
• Positions are dependent on
their angles relative to another
point
[0, 0, 0]
x
y
z
[a+c, b+d, 0]
a = - l1 * sin(phi1)
b = l1 * cos(phi1)
c = - l2 * sin(phi2)
d = l2 * cos(phi2)
phi1
phi2
l1
l2
Picture: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knochen_des_Menschen
[a, b, 0]

6. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Problem: How to describe the angles?
Picture: [1]
• The angles on hip, knee
and ankle are not
dependent on each other!
• Each developing of angles
cannot described in an
algebraic equation
• Implementation via polar
coordinates is therefore no
option!
• Another solution must be
found

7. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Different solutions were found
• In order to simulate the human motion anyway, some alternatives
are given:
– Describing the motion with different equations
– AddOn for Scilab: HuMAnS
– Motion Capturing
– Simulation by 3D-Programs or CAD-Programs
– Describe the motion with a graphical program
• These alternatives differ a lot between each other
• Some are easier to handle, other are more precise

8. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Equations for motion
• As seen in the beginning, it is difficult to simulate human motion by
equations
• Possible solutions:
– Equations containing the inertia of mass of different body parts
– Simulate the muscles and their power, which move the skeleton
• Both are very complex, enough for a master-thesis
– For example: „Studienarbeit: Modellierung und Simulation muskelgesteuerter
Bewegungen eines menschlichen Skelettmodells“
• Seminar paper: Model and simulation of muscle-regulated motion of a
human skeleton
– Contains 70 pages
• Therefore a simulation using equations is not recommended

9. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Scilab AddOn: HuMAnS
• Scilab is a free alternative to Matlab
• „HuMAnS (abbreviation for Humanoid Motion Analysis and
Simulation) proposes a wealth of state-of-the-art algorithms from the
field of robotics research for the modeling, the analysis and the
simulation of human and humanoid motion.” [2]
• Free AddOn
– But must purchased via contact form
Picture and movie: [3]

10. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Motion capturing
• Human motion is captured by cameras
– A very good supplier for such cameras and software is Qualisys
• Motion is translated into coordinates, which are stored in matrices
for example
• These datas/matrices can be read by different programs
– Such programs are special motion capturing softwares, some of them are free
like Autodesk 3D
• Such datas/matrices can be purchased in the internet for free
Picture: [4]
• Could be a very interesting
solution
• Different gaits can be modeled
easily

11. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Motion capturing in practice
• Such motion capture datas can be seen below
• Only the coordinates are stored, therefore you need an external
document which explains orientation
• Tried to write a Matlab-script to run this file, but it seems more
complicate than in the first view

12. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Simulation by 3D- and CAD-programs
• Some CAD-programs and nearly every 3D-program can animate
simulations
• For example, T-Flex was used by Dr. Petrov to animate a stickfigure
• Generally, it is possible. But these programs are not meant to do
such stuff (especially CAD-programs)
• Other programs, like Altair HyperWorks, support biomechanic
analyses, but they concentrate on FE-calculations
– FE is not the needed approach to solve the problem
• Not the best solution
• For first approach good, but to intensify studies another tool is
needed

13. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Describing the motion with a graphical
program
• Autodesk ForceEffect: a ‘Drag&Drop‘ tool for engineers
• Can handle easy tasks and animates structures
• Runs on PC, Android and iPhone/iPad
• Task: idealize the human skeleton as a structure and animate it
within Autodesk ForceEffect
B
D
A
C
Discretize human
body into a
structure
Implement
structure into
ForceEffect

14. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Describing the motion with a graphical
program
• Oversimplified animation of human motion

15. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Conclusion
• Many ways to simulate human motion
• They are very different to each other
• Some suit the task better than other ones
• Recommendation:
– First try to get the HuMAnS-Software for Scilab and look if it is suitable
– Then try to build a better version of the Autodesk ForceEffect animation
– Write a script to run free motion-capture files

16. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Bibliography
• [1]: Mechanical power and efficiency of level walking with different
stride rates; Brian R. Umberger, Philip E. Martin; Journal of
Experimental Biology 2007 210: 3255-
3265; doi: 10.1242/jeb.000950
• [2]: The HuMAnS toolbox, a homogenous framework for motion
capture, analysis and simulation Pierre-Brice Wieber, Florence
Billet, Laurence Boissieux, Roger Pissard-Gibollet BIPOP team
INRIA Rhône-Alpes 38334 St Ismier Cedex, France
• [3]: http://www.inrialpes.fr/bipop/software/humans/screenshots.html
• [4]:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Motion_Capture_with_C
had_Phantom.png

17. MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Thank you for attention!
MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MAMI)
UNIVERSITY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING