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The AnyBody Modeling System™

... is a software system for simulation of human movement. It can model smaller or larger subsets of the musculo-skeletal system (or the entire body) and compute muscle forces, joint reactions, metabolism, mechanical work, efficiency, etc. for given movements.

anybody

Any property of the AnyBody™ model is parametric, and the system can be used for optimization of movement patterns, working positions, anthropometric data, boundary conditions etc.

Technically, the system is characterized by the following properties:

It uses an optimization technique to solve the muscle recruitment problem and reverses this by means of other optimization techniques so that forward dynamics problems can also be treated.
It handles static and dynamic models.
Models are fully three-dimensional.
It runs on the MS Windows platform.
It handles very large models on small computers. It is entirely feasible to analyse a model with several hundreds of muscles on an ordinary PC.
Models are developed in the body modeling language AnyScript™.

The AnyBody Modeling System™ is self-contained. It does not build on top of any other platform or require any additional software to be installed.

The AnyBody Modeling System™ is available from AnyBody Technology with discounted license prices for research and teaching purposes. Price information is available on request.

Any2Ans

Coupling Musculoskeletal Simulation and FEA Any2Ans

is the only commercially available package that couples the AnyBody Modeling System with Ansys.

Several case studies including calculating stresses in bone and evaluating fracture fixation devices are explained.

[more... ]

Applications of AnyBody

AnyBody can be used to investigate a number of fundamental questions as well as to solve practical problems of ergonomics. Typical investigations could be:

What are the benefits of antagonist muscle forces?
Why do we have bi-articular muscles?
How should we design a workplace for a particular repetitive work process?
What are the causes of wrist- elbow- and shoulder pains from working with a computer mouse?
How can we apply functional electrical stimulation of muscles to obtain a desired motion?
What is the ideal anthropometry of a sportsman in a particular discipline?
How can the central nervous system relieve the load on an injured joint, muscle, or ligament, and what consequences does it have for the rest of the musculo-skeletal system?

Demo Licenses

...are available. They are full-blown versions of the system valid for 30 days after you install the software. Please come this way to register for a demo license.

Examples

This section is constantly under development. For more examples, please review the homepage of the AnyBody Research project.

The body models are public domain

Please notice that developing models as complicated as these bottom-up is a major task. All our complex models are founded on the same basic building blocks, which are available in the repository of the AnyBody Research Project. These blocks are constantly being improved and refined thanks to the input of several scientific sponsors.

The development of good body models is a very worthy research task, and true to the tradition of science, the resulting models will remain in the public domain. AnyBody Technology is not going to make them a part of the products we sell. It is our hope that users will download, scrutinize, modify, and validate the models, and finally make the improved versions available in the public domain like the AnyBody Research Project does.

• Example 1: Pushing Model
Pushing is one of the most common manual work tasks and prevention of work-related injuries in this field holds a very large socio-economic potential. The AnyBody Modeling System™ enables simple investigations of muscle efforts and joint forces depending on postures and other workplace parameters. In this example a hospital employee is pushing a bed with a total mass of 200 kg forward at an acceleration of 0.3 m/s^2. The duration of the push is 1.5 second. It is possible to choose three different heights of the horizontal handle bar: 0.9m, 1.1m and 1.3m. Simulation reveals that the muscle effort as well as the elbow joint force during the push is smaller for the high position of the handle bar. Click here to see a video of the simulation (2.2 MB).

• Example 2: Fitness Equipment Model
Fitness equipment is a major field of application of the AnyBody Modeling System™. The system's ability to model the mechanism of the machine and its interaction with the human bodycreates the opportunity of optimizing the machine's load of the muscular system. In this example we have optimized the eccentricity of the wheel that the cable winds about to obtain an almost constant muscle effort throughout the arm curl. Video available here (6.4 MB).

• Example 3: Spine Model
This example illustrates the movement capabiliies of the spine model. The model is driven by a so-called spine rhythm, which links the positions of the individual spinal vertebrae to the relative position of the pelvis and the thorax. The basis of the function is the deformation of an elastic beam, and the rhythm has been experientally verified for movements in the saggital plane. Click here to see the video (10.4 MB).

• Example 4: Gait Model
Gait is a major application of musculoskeletal modeling and one that holds a large potential for clinical applications of the technology. The idea behind the gait model is that movements recorded in a gait laboratory by motion capture technology can be imposed directly on the model together with measured ground reaction forces. With the movement and external forces known, the simulation can compute internal forces in the system and that way extend the applicability of gait analysis a lot. Click here to see the video animation (7 Mb).

• Example 5: Shoulder to Hand Model
This example demonstrates the reaction of the shoulder model to forces in the hand of different directions and magnitudes. Click here to see the video animation (3.4 Mb).

• Example 6: Balance Model
The AnyBody Modeling System™ can automatically ensure that the body maintains balance. In this example, the model is carrying a rucksack with a weight of 20 kg. The model first extends the back and subsequently the center of mass of the rucksack is gradually moved 20 centimeters away from the body. The video shows how the body posture accomodates the changed weight distribution. Click here to see the video animation (1.4 Mb).

• Example 7: Wheelchair Model
A large proportion of wheelchair users develop load-induced shoulder pain after several years of use. This wheelchair model can predict the shoulder joint forces for different positions of the axle with respect to the seat. by optimization of the parameters it is possible to find a position of the shaft that minimizes the forces in the gleno-humeral joint. Click here to see the video animation (2.6 Mb).

• Example 8: Egress/Assistive Handle Model
With the ageing population, egress from automobiles is becoming an increasingly important subject. This model is built to investigate the importace of an assistive handle placed on the window frame. Click here to see the video animation (4.6 Mb).

• Example 9: Shoulder Hand Wheel Model
This standard ergonomic example demonstrates the complex activation of shoulder muscles when turning a hand wheel. Click here to see the video animation (3.6 Mb).

• Example 10: Shoulder Model
The AnyBody™ Shoulder model (click to enlarge).

• Example 11: Pedaling Model
Animation of the AnyBody™ pedaling model. Click here to see the video animation (8.0 Mb).

• Example 12: Full Body Bicycling Model
Animation of a full body bicycling model. Notice the shoulder muscle activity. Click here to see the video animation (2.1 Mb).

• Example 13: Box Lifting Model
Animation of box lifting. The video shows two cases: (1) When the box is equipped with (invisible) handles and the hands require no friction to hold onto the box, and (2) when the hands must squeeze the box to provide friction to keep it from slipping. Click here to see the video animation (1.2 Mb).

• Example 14: Baseball Swing Model
A baseball swing. This movement is made "on the fly" and is not accurate. It's purpose is mostly to demonstrate that the system handles closed kinematic chains as when the two hands hold on to the bat or both feet touching the ground. Click here to see the video animation (2.0 Mb).

• Example 15: Sideways Rotation Model
Animation of a lift of a box from a platform over an obstacle and subsequent sideways rotation. This is a temporary model that still requires adjustment of boundary conditions. Click here to see the video animation (1.1 Mb).