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Computer Science @ Rochester
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
6:15 PM
Meliora Hall, Room 366
Dana Ballard
University of Texas at Austin
A New Look at Human Motor Control
Modeling the generation of human movement can be extraordinarily difficult owing to the complexity of the underlying musculoskeletal system. The dynamics equations are non-linear and have many degrees of freedom, making them all but intractable to solve directly. We show that this system can be greatly simplified if its movements are modeled as a set of basis movements that can be adapted to varying conditions. We show that the command torques for such movements can be read out by a dynamic model that is constrained to follow human movements as measured by a motion capture system. The resultant torques can be replayed in the model to reproduce the original movements provided they are augmented by linear stabilizing terms. The resultant system provides a novel method of modeling human dynamics and suggests a novel way of formulating and solving the general problem of controlling human movement.

RSVP: Because we need to provide enough food, please let Kathy Corser (kcorser@bcs.rochester.edu) know if you will be attending (and if you have dietary restrictions). Thanks.