History
The world's first virtual human motion company virtually all technologies for virtually limitless solutions to human motion dynamic problems and human ergonomic design issues.
The Digital Humans Laboratory was established at the University of Iowa in 1998. The laboratory conducted basic research in the area of motion prediction and human simulation in a virtual world. Research results from the field of robotics developed by Professor Karim Abdel-Malek and his students over the past ten years were found to be very applicable to human simulation.
With an austere beginning and modest funding, the research progressed. Several Ph.D. dissertations and Master's Degree theses have been awarded as a result of this research. More significant funding was secured in 2003 ($2.75M), and the Virtual Soldier Research (VSR) program was established within the University of Iowa's Center for Computer-Aided Design. In the ensuing four years, an additional $12M in funding has been secured to advance our research securing significant contracts from military agencies and corporate partners such as Caterpillar, Ford, GM, and Chrysler.
By all accounts, the VSR research has broken new ground in areas that were believed to be very difficult to master, and/or that had been relatively untouched by researchers in the past. VSR personnel have published papers at several major industry conferences - receiving a number of best paper awards - and continue to receive significant media interest, including several high profile outlets such as a broadcast program piece produced in 2007 by the Discovery Channel.
SantosHuman Inc. was founded as a spin-off of the University of Iowa in 2008. The company was formed to continue development, test, and bring to market a revolutionary new digital human modeling and simulation software package, referred to as Santos™. The Santos™ software was initially developed at the University's Center for Computer-Aided Design from 1998 through 2008. The company markets and sells the Santos™ software package along with associated services to aid its customers in producing high fidelity biomechanical models and simulations of human motion, posture prediction, strength, fatigue, and physiology. These model and simulations aid in the conduct equipment usability and ergonomics studies to aid in the efficient design and production of the goods and services these companies produce.
The University of Iowa Center For Computer Aided Design CCAD in 2004 guided by professor Karim Abdel Malek began a research program for the US Military to study Human dynamics in the virtual world and launched the University of Iowa's Virtual Soldier Research program.