SantosHuman Inc. (SHI) provides digital human modeling (DHM) solutions for product design, process design, and human performance evaluation, through the development, distribution, and use of premium software based on predictive human modeling capabilities collectively called Santos®. Currently, SHI’s product line includes a range of human modeling tools and services, all of which leverage the Santos® technology.
The Santos® technology grew from research and development at the University of Iowa's Virtual Soldier Research (VSR) Program, which began in 2003. While VSR continues to provide a constant stream of cutting-edge R&D, SHI has the exclusive license with the University of Iowa’s Research Foundation (UIRF) to commercialize, deliver, and support these capabilities. SHI’s clients now include some of the most recognizable brands in the world.
Nearly all products and processes are currently designed within a computer environment, and nearly all products and processes involve human interaction. Thus, the market for a computer- based human model like Santos® is not only large but rapidly expanding. Manufacturing companies that use digital human modeling and simulation to test new products and processes prior to production can achieve significant savings in time and cost. However, relative to the potential market, use of DHMs is minimal, and there are few, if any companies that provide the predictive capabilities that SHI does. The market is far from saturated. Although there is a distinct demand for DHM software in general, there is a glaring technology gap that Santos® fills with its ability to predict human behavior with minimal user input and minimal pre-recorded data.
SHI provides solutions:
The Solution:Santos®, a new kind of virtual human, represents the only truly predictive, physics-based, and most comprehensive digital human model currently available. Santos® is a new kind of virtual human that predicts and analyzes human performance using validated mathematical models taking into consideration strength, fatigue, flexibility, balance, vision, posture, external forces, clothing, equipment, etc. Because Santos® predictive models are based upon fundamental principles, they can be used to demonstrate cause and effect by varying input parameters, and are therefore ideally suited for trade-off analysis that is critical in the early stages of product or process design where changes can be made easily and inexpensively. In addition, Santos® can help study and evaluate various restrictions and impediments to human performance, such as fatigue, reduced range of motion, environmental obstacles, etc. Companies can spend hundreds of millions of dollars creating prototypes in order to test new designs. Santos® can help reduce the amount of prototypes needed and thereby significantly reduce time and cost of development. In addition, detriment in human performance, and potential injuries can incur substantial costs, and Santos® helps mitigate these potential risks and costs.
SHI products are designed to provide a software platform for linking models and facilitating future growth. SHI recognizes that any complex model must facilitate integration with external models and must allow for user-based expansion. In short, Santos® helps companies cut costs and increase revenues, and adds value by bringing innovation and creativity to products and processes. Hence, Santos® saves money, saves time, and saves lives.
Competitive Advantage:Santos® is the only physics-based digital human model capable of predicting dynamic human motion without prerecorded data and while considering strength and fatigue. It is the only virtual avatar that responds to physics-based cause and effect. When conditions change, Santos® reacts (visually and quantitatively). Whether it is a US Marine carrying new types of armor and weapons, or an operator in an automotive assembly line, Santos® can simulate operating conditions, identify safety concerns, and conduct trade-off analyses.
SHI’s ability to continue fast integration of new research promises to provide a competitive advantage that is often lost after initial technology transfer. Given the structure of the Santos® software and the expertise of the SHI team, SHI is agile enough to continually provide new capabilities and solutions that immediately respond directly to customer demands.
Relative to the current state of the art, Santos’s® fidelity is superior, both in terms of full-body skeletal degrees-of-freedom (moving joints) and in terms of appearance. Santos® also surpasses currently available tools with respect to predictive capabilities. This is because posture and motion are not simulated using pre- recorded data; they are simulated using validated mathematical models that can be re-run easily with changes in problem parameters. With regards to motion prediction, in particular, we have developed a new and unique approach for predicting dynamic human motion, called predictive dynamics. Consequently, Santos® actually predicts how and why people behave the way they do.
SHI Expertise: Built on more than 15 years in modeling and simulation, multi-body dynamics, and robotics, our areas of expertise include kinematics and dynamics of human motion, real-time simulation, multi-objective optimization, physiology-based human performance measures, biomechanics, human factors, and ergonomics. The team at SHI looks forward to working with you.
Santos stands out: