Santos Digital Human Modeling Introduced into RMIT University Biomechanics Course

RMIT University will integrate Santos digital human modeling software into its undergraduate Engineering Biomechanics courses and research activities. RMIT University, a public university in Melbourne, Australia, is taking advantage of the Santos University Program to enable students to learn how to measure, calculate, analyze and interpret forces and movements acting on the human body using Santos technology. They will also learn design and analytical skills for computer human modeling.

Steve Beck, CEO with SantosHuman Inc., said Santos looks forward to seeing how RMIT applies Santos’ predictive technology in classrooms and research labs.

“We’re excited to extend the global reach of the Santos University Program into Australia,” Beck said. “RMIT should immediately see the benefits of using the Santos digital human model in teaching undergraduates about biomechanics in sports, ergonomics and rehabilitation. It will also prove extremely useful in researching product development to improve human interaction and reduce injuries.”

RMIT University Biomechanics Students

Final year undergraduate students presenting their innovative engineering solutions at EnGenius 2019, organized by the School of Engineering, RMIT University.

“In today’s complex and fast-moving world, at RMIT University we rely on Santos digital human models to ensure our teaching, research and industry collaborations are at the cutting edge,” said Dr. Toh Yen Pang, a Senior Lecturer at RMIT. “Santos technology can help our researchers, industrial designers and engineers develop and market innovative, high-value products for the global marketplace.”

An expert in computer-aided engineering and design, Dr. Pang added that the Santos digital human model offers one of the best mechanisms to anticipate real-world problems to minimize trial-and-error and move toward virtual means of product design and development.

The Santos University Program partners with institutes of higher education to provide its products for non-commercial, educational, and/or research purposes. The most recent partnerships in Europe and North and South America now include Nipissing University, University of Michigan-Dearborn, University of California-Berkeley, Oregon State University, Politecnico di Milano, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, the University of Waterloo, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Lakehead University.

Lakehead University to Use Santos Digital Human Modeling for Workplace Research

Lakehead University’s School of Kinesiology plans to integrate Santos digital human modeling software into their studies of the relationship between workplace factors, task performance strategies and injuries in complex work environments. They will also incorporate Santos into ergonomics courses through the Santos University Program.

“Santos provides a unique platform to model human performance,” said Dr. Kathryn E. Sinden, assistant professor in Lakehead University’s School of Kinesiology.

“In particular, the ability to modify and pilot modifications to task performance strategies enables important insights into tool and performance redesign recommendations prior to implementation.

“Our group is working to bridge the lab-to-field gap that exists in applied ergonomic research. We believe that integrating Santos into our current measurement strategy will improve the fidelity of our approach towards better interventions,” Dr. Sinden said.

Lakehead University Kinesiology ResearchThe research group plans first to integrate Santos into their injury assessment approach with wearable technology and app-based platforms. They will then use higher fidelity equipment to determine impacts of task performance in the field with lab-based simulations to inform injury prevention strategies.

Dr. Sinden added that undergraduate and graduate students will improve their understanding of the interrelationship between task performance strategies and injury risk factors.

“We believe that integrating both theory and practical components in our students’ experience will improve their ability to develop and implement evidence-based injury prevention strategies as they move forward into ergonomic practice,” she said.

Steve Beck, CEO with SantosHuman Inc., said Lakehead University has made an excellent choice to partner with Santos.

“We’ve been talking with Kathryn for a while and are very excited to be providing solutions that assist with her educational and research goals while welcoming another leading kinesiology program into the Santos University Program,” Beck said .

The Santos University Program partners with institutes of higher education to provide its products for non-commercial, educational, and/or research purposes. The most recent partnerships in Europe and North and South America now include Nipissing University, University of Michigan-Dearborn, University of California-Berkeley, Oregon State University, Politecnico di Milano, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, the University of Waterloo and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

 

Lakehead University has approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and 2,000 faculty and staff in 10 faculties at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead is a fully comprehensive university: home to Ontario’s newest Faculty of Law in 44 years, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and faculties of Engineering, Business Administration, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities, Science & Environmental Studies, Natural Resources Management, Education, and Graduate Studies. Maclean’s 2019 UniversityRankings place Lakehead University among Canada’s Top 10 primarily undergraduate universities and in 2018 Research Infosource named Lakehead Research University of the Year in its category for the fourth consecutive year. Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.

Oregon State University Includes Santos in Graduate Digital Human Modeling Course

Oregon State U ergonomics Following the successful introduction of its first digital human modeling (DHM) course in 2018, Oregon State University (OSU) conducted a successful pilot of a computational ergonomics design course for advanced degrees last year. Now, the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering plans to introduce Santos technologies into Digital Human Modeling for Design. The graduate-level course will use Santos’ one-of-a-kind predictive human modeling software in lectures, demos and student homework on ergonomics assessments and biomechanical aspects of concept designs. In addition, researchers plan to apply Santos technologies to human-centered product development research.

“My goal is to integrate Santos into our existing digital prototyping framework and generate preliminary analyses, which will be used as part of our National Science Foundation and Office of Naval Research proposal submissions in 2020,” said Onan Demirel, Assistant Professor in the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering.

“Having been part of the first DHM course ever offered at OSU in 2018, we are excited this academic partnership continues to grow,” said Steve Beck, President & CEO of SantosHuman Inc. “We can’t wait to see what OSU’s leading academic mechanical engineering design research lab will do with Santos technologies.”

For the courses, Demirel plans to develop undergraduate and graduate curriculum that focuses on DHM as well as computational prototyping, which can bring human factors engineering capabilities early in design.

“Course objectives will target modern product design methodologies with the human-in-the-loop approach. Lecture and homework content will be multi-disciplinary and address theory and practice required for modern product development,” Demirel said. “Santos will help us in understanding, exploring, designing, and analyzing human-product interactions during concept generation and evaluation.”

Demirel is also working on a Design-Test-Build (DTB) facility for computational design which would have Santos available for human performance analysis.

“Santos will provide a platform for analysis of human-product interactions. With Santos in the DTB facility, we will be able to thoroughly explore human-product interactions through DHM as well as motion capture, human-subject data collection, occupational health, ergonomics, human factors, and so on.”

Santos software technologies have been provided to Oregon State University since 2017 as part of the Santos University Program, which includes several academic research partnerships. Those partnerships in Europe and North and South America include Nipissing University, University of Michigan-Dearborn, University of California-Berkeley, Oregon State University, Politecnico di Milano, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, the University of Waterloo and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Brock University Continues SantosHuman Worker Safety Research Partnership

Brock University’s Neuromechanics and Ergonomics Lab in Ontario, Canada, will continue to partner with SantosHuman Inc. through the Santos® University Program. In 2018, their Kinesiology students began using the company’s predictive virtual human modeling and simulation software in studying the relationship between workplace injuries, ergonomics and fatigue.

“SantosHuman has emerged as a world leader in digital human modeling, and the power of this technology is an innovative step forward for the Ergonomics profession,” said Michael Holmes, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Canada Research Chair at Brock University. “Our partnership with Santos began last year, and our students really enjoyed using the software in our fourth-year physical ergonomics course. We are fortunate to have Santos as a teaching and research resource.”

Brock University’s Neuromuscular Mechanics and Ergonomics Lab integrates motion capture, robotics and neurophysiology to understand muscle recruitment, fatigue and injury. The Santos University Program provides Brock University with an additional virtual human resource to enhance and expand the university’s high-fidelity workplace simulations.  In addition, the program provides students in undergraduate and Masters of Professional Kinesiology ergonomics courses with access to SantosHuman’s first-of-its-kind predictive human simulation software.

“By partnering with Santos, we are able to provide Brock students with experiential learning opportunities that use state-of-the-art technology to solve real world problems,” Dr. Holmes said. “In 2018, our partnership with Santos helped us secure a Brock Teaching and Learning Grant. This grant allowed us to develop learning modules and prepare graduate students/teaching assistants for teaching and learning opportunities.”

The new learning modules provide students with experiential learning related to strength demands. They simulate tasks in the lab, then attempt to recreate them in the virtual environments funded by the grant and uploaded into the Santos software.

“I founded the Santos Institute in 2014 to provide oversight of all activities associated with the development and dissemination of Santos knowledge,” said Steve Beck, President & CEO of SantosHuman Inc. “We also needed to ensure these activities represented academic rigor, so we established the Santos University Program to officially partner with internationally renowned programs of Kinesiology, Ergonomics, Human Factors, Design, and Engineering. Dr. Holmes’ efforts at Brock University provide an outstanding example of the value of these partnerships.”

Brock University Neuromechanics Lab

Researchers at Brock University will use the SantosHuman Arm Force Field Plug-in to better understand physical demands in the workplace and how people become injured at work.

SantosHuman’s research partnerships in Europe and North and South America include Nipissing University, University of Michigan-Dearborn, University of California-Berkeley, Oregon State University, Politecnico di Milano, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, the University of Waterloo and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Learn more about the Santos Institute.

SHI Partners with U of Ottawa & U of Waterloo to Research a Canadian virtual Soldier Performance Prediction & Optimization Tool

In 2019, SantosHuman Inc. will engage in research with the University of Ottawa and the University of Waterloo to develop and validate a tool to predict and optimize performance and minimize injury risk to Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) soldiers based on personal, operational, equipment and environmental factors. Phase I of the development of the CANadian virtual Soldier Performance Prediction and Optimization Tool (CAN- SPPOT) will be funded by a $200,000 (Canadian) contract from the Department of National Defence’s (DND) Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program. SantosHuman will leverage the 10+ years of experience it has in predicting human physical behavior and performance.

SantosHuman digital human model“We are excited to be selected under the first call for proposals for the IDEaS program to help the CAF enhance soldier performance,” said Steve Beck, CEO of SantosHuman Inc. “Our virtual human models based on Santos technologies have made a difference for U.S. warfighters, and we consider it an honor to serve Canadian soldiers by predicting and optimizing their performance.”

CAF soldiers increasingly face unique physical, mental, and cognitive challenges, requiring them to carry more equipment and wear heavier armor. However, the weight and hindrance of increased equipment can become a liability to operational effectiveness—in some cases, overburdening soldiers to the point of causing injuries. Due to the lack of sufficient technology, DND has been limited in its ability to assess and evaluate trade-offs between different equipment and armor configurations, and likely operational outcomes regarding soldier burden, survivability, and performance. In 2018, DND launched the IDEaS program to identify innovative solutions to key challenges facing the CAF, including technology to improve the prediction and optimization of personnel performance.

Through the first IDEaS call for proposals, DND has selected for funding a new Canadian virtual Soldier Performance Prediction and Optimization Tool (CAN-SPPOT). Canadian researchers Ryan Graham (University of Ottawa) and Steve Fischer (University of Waterloo) lead a University-Industry partnership with SantosHuman Inc. to advance the state-of-the-art Santos Pro® platform to provide DND with an unprecedented ability to simulate warfighter performance based on specific individual and task-based characteristics. CAN-SPPOT will disrupt the status quo of conducting expensive and time- consuming field trials and best guesses to evaluate and optimize soldier-system fit, integration and performance, by using quick, cost-effective, trade-off analyses in a virtual environment.

“Understanding how to balance trade-offs between soldier personal characteristics, kit configuration, and operational effectiveness is a major challenge for our Canadian Armed Forces,” said lead investigator Ryan Graham, PhD. “IDEaS support, in partnership with Santos Human Inc., the industry leader in predicting physical human behavior and performance, will allow us to develop a game-changing decision-making tool to inform our military leaders about mission critical kit configuration and operational effectiveness questions.”

The research and development project will launch early in 2019, when the team will begin to integrate common CAF equipment and armor configurations into the Santos Pro® platform. The team will then embark on developing cutting-edge artificial intelligence- based algorithms, which enable Santos predictive models to generate soldier specific motion profiles under different kit configurations.

“Coupling physics-based biomechanical models with neural networks (artificial intelligence) will not only improve the realism of posture and motion prediction but will open the door to incorporating an individual’s nuanced tendencies and history and to linking biomechanical models with cognitive models,” say Dr. Tim Marler, SHI’s Chief Research Scientist. “It is exciting to be involved in an effort like this, which will advance the field of human modeling as well as help support today’s Warfighters.”

Link: Association of Canadian Ergonomists News and Events

SantosHuman Inc. is excited to announce that we will have a booth in the exhibitors’ hall at the Conference for the Association of Canadian Ergonomists on October 16-17 in Sudbury, Ontario. Stop by and let’s discuss how our predictive human-in-the-loop solutions can assist you in your efforts to make the world a safer place to work.

Link: Association of Canadian Ergonomists News and Events

Read More

SantosHuman Inc. is proud to welcome Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Systems Center Atlantic (SPAWAR Atlantic) to its Santos Warfighter Program, which provides the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) with access to Santos technologies at a significant reduction in cost. This program exists in recognition that the DoD has provided over 60 percent of the more than $50 million in externally funded research in digital human modeling and simulation at the University of Iowa, which has continued from 2003 through today.

Read More

Featured in the Corridor Business Journal

The Corridor Business Journal recently interviewed SantosHuman CEO Steve Beck. The resulting article provides a good explanation of the problems we solve for manufacturers. Read it to learn more:

Read More

In July 2018, the University of Michigan-Dearborn Racing team will begin using the Santos® predictive human modeling capabilities from SantosHuman Inc. (SHI) to improve driver performance with the interface of its Formula SAE® racecar. Santos® technologies are provided to institutions of higher education and research in the USA through the Santos® University Program which provides free access to state-of-the-art digital human modeling software.

“The software provides the team with the ability to optimize driver performance virtually to avoid the trial and error approach typically used to address operator-centric elements in design,” said Steve Beck, President and CEO of SantosHuman Inc.

Read More

Santos ® Lite Workshop at the KIN@50 Conference

The KIN@50 Conference, a kinesiology conference at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada is hosting a workshop on SantosHuman Inc’s predictive digital human modeling tool, Santos ® Lite. “Innovations in Ergonomics—an intro to digital human modeling using Santos”, has been developed, and will be led, by Prof. Steven Fischer, a Registered Kinesiologist and Canadian Certified Professional Ergonomist. Workshop attendees will receive a coupon providing one year of access to Santos Lite.