Factors affecting the safe two-legged locomotion of humans and robots - Advanced Motion Laboratory Offenburg (AMLO)

• Subject Area: Biophysics ; Automation, Mechatronics, Control Systems, Intelligent Technical Systems, Robotics ; Medical Physics, Biomedical Technology ; Orthopaedics, Traumatology, Reconstructive Surgery ; Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 497968580

Movement is essential for social participation and health. Changes in the neuromuscular and sensory capacities of people, e.g. in old age or as a result of disease or trauma, can lead to substantial limitations in movement possibilities and disturbances in movement control and to high economic costs.Evolution has shaped humans into amazingly efficient machines. Different optimization criteria for movement coordination are likely to be applied depending on the movement task, with social and emotional factors playing an important role. A detailed understanding of the interplay of these optimization criteria has not yet been achieved, but is essential for the development of technical support and feedback systems, monitoring of fall risk, or training programs for fall prevention.Movement strategies of healthy people can serve as a template for the control and regulation of technical systems, such as humanoid robots or exoskeletons. In addition, technical systems can provide feedback for improving movement (e.g., for joint relief in osteoarthritis disease).Studies on human locomotor behavior have so far insufficiently considered the diversity of the locomotor environment (e.g., the slope of the locomotor plane, perturbations of locomotor stability, or the visual environment).This aspect will be addressed by the acquisition of an Interactive Motion Analysis System for real-time motion analysis in a virtual environment (Gait Real-Time Analysis Interactive Lab (GRAIL)) for the integrative research center on human motion ("Advanced Motion Laboratory Offenburg", AMLO). The GRAIL is capable of mapping, modifying and augmenting aspects of real motion environments (visual environment, surface slope, perturbations). GRAlL enables multidisciplinary, epistemic research on human motion in an ecologically valid yet controllable environment. The acquisition will significantly expand the university's existing instrument infrastructure, which previously only allowed analysis in a basic, static and level laboratory setting, and will open new research perspectives.The GRAIL will address research on gait stability, mechanical loading of the musculoskeletal system and the transfer of human movement patterns to robotic systems. Furthermore, the interaction of humans with technical aids (e.g. orthoses, feedback systems) and the connection between emotion and movement will be researched.With the persons involved in the application, already existing, concrete research projects are to be implemented, new project ideas are to be led to an application and an environment is to be created in which future research at the interface between the movement sciences, medicine and the engineering sciences is to be developed.

• DFG Programme: Major Instrumentation Initiatives
• Major Instrumentation: Spezial-Laufband (+Motion Capture, VR, etc.)
• Instrumentation Group: 3490 Sonstige medizinische Registriergeräte und Zubehör
• Applicant Institution: Hochschule Offenburg
• Participating Institution: MSH Medical School Hamburg - University of Applied Sciences and Medical University; Fakultät Medizin (Universität)
• Leader: Professor Dr. Steffen Willwacher
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr.-Ing. Janis Keuper
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Dr. Sina David; Professor Dr. Karsten Hollander; Professor Kiros Karamanidis, Ph.D.
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Ulrich Hochberg; Professor Dr. Marc Oliver Korn; Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Wendt