Applied Movement Science

Humans have a remarkable agility which allows them to move gracefully while adapting to perturbations from their environment. This motor dexterity is still poorly understood scientifically. We believe the reason for this is that motor coordination cannot be understood by studying the nervous system in isolation.The purpose of our research is to understand the integration of neural control with musculoskeletal biomechanics. To do this, we combine methods from experimental biomechanics and modelling tools from motor control and computational neuroscience.

Automotive industry: Physical loading of occupants during crash tests

• Frontal car collisions with small overlap

  Dr. Andreas Mühlbeier
  Due to excessive mobile phone usage, the small overlap accident recently became one of the most frequent accident types. In this project, we analyze the kinematic and muscular responses of living vehicle occupants during low velocity collisions. To gain information about higher and more realistic collision velocities, the low velocity responses will be extrapolated with our threedimensional human model “Myonardo”.

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• Development of a biofidelity crash test dummy with muscle activity to achieve realistic collision sequences

  

  Dr. Andreas Mühlbeier

  Andrea Arensmann

  The central innovative approach in this project is the incorporation of artificial muscles into the biofidelic dummy in order to achieve a natural movement and injury behavior of the dummy. The main goal of the project is to match the movement behavior of the biofidelic dummy with simulation results from the Myonardo model and to approximate the movement behavior of the biofidelic dummy to human movement behavior by introducing artificial muscles.

Sports

• Smart Tech-Tic - Development of a realtime goalkeeper assessment tool for on-field use

  The goal of the innovation project "Smart TechTic" is the development of a novel diagnostic system specifically for goalkeeper training. With the planned system, the goalkeeper's movements will be tracked and analyzed in real-time. This includes positioning, timing, running paths, basic positions, and jumping techniques. The total funding volume for the project amounts to approximately 865,000 euros from the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM).

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  Dr. Maarten van den Heuvel

   

Completed projects

• Intelligent seatbelt

  Dr. Maarten van den Heuvel
  Although there is no question that the seatbelt is a lifesaver, there is still room to optimize its behavior during low-velocity car crashes.

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