What's New

• Version 2007.0.0
  • Version 2007.0 Plugins
• Version 2005.1.0
• Version 2005.0.0
• Version 2004.1.4
• Version 2004.1.0
• Version 2004.0.3
• Version 2004.0.0

Version 2007.0.0

In response to the wishes of our one-thousand-strong user base, the Biomechanics Research Group, Inc. has responded with a new version of LifeMOD/BodySIM™ that contains many new features. This version introduces the concepts of libraries and muscle tissue wrapping utilities as well as dozens of easy to use features.

It also introduces two new specialized functions to LifeMOD/BodySIM: LifeMOD/NeckSIM is a high fidelity cervical spine builder and LifeMOD/MotionMatrix is a direct interface to skin-mounted sensors such as the Sonosens system.

Libraries
The libraries include 13 motion capture data sets for activities such as golfing, tennis, walking, sitting, stair climbing, etc. They also include human model libraries, posture libraries, anthropometric libraries and environment libraries. The libraries provide the capability for the user to investigate many human activities and interactions. The libraries will grow in content as new versions are released.

Tissue Wrapping
A convenient tissue wrapping tool is offered which automatically discretizes any existing tissue and creates contact forces between the tissue and any bone or surface in the model. This capability, together with generalized surface contact, now allows the user to investigate phenomena such as patellar tracking in the trochlear groove.

Tissue Slide Points
Another tissue wrapping feature now available in LifeMOD/BodySIM is the ability to establish tissue "wrapping points." These are fixed points to a particular body in the model which allow the tissue to slide across. Using multiple slide points allows for modeling of complicated structures such as the finger extensors and flexors.

Hill Muscle Formulation
The Hill Muscle formulation, complete with muscle activation dynamics is now available as an option in LifeMOD/BodySIM. This formulation is offered as an additional option to the "trainable" muscle elements already present in the program.

Vision Cones
To support our ergonomic customer base, vision cones have been introduced into LifeMOD 2007. During any time in a simulation, the user may turn on the vision cones to see what the model "sees."

Body Center-of-Mass Reporting
This is a new method that will continuously report the body's composite center-of-mass. It will both graphically display the location and movement of the center-of-mass as well as report the data pertaining to it. This feature is convenient for balance control applications which require constant monitoring of the center of mass.

Motion Agent Enhancements
A new feature now allows standard motion agent sets to be easily augmented with other motion agents. This feature can be used for human subjects with different motion marker arrangements than the standard LifeMOD/BodySIM protocols. It also allows for addition of markers that drive inanimate objects. This feature can be used for driving models holding or interfacing objects such as walkers, sports equipment, vehicles, etc.

Higher Fidelity Foot
The contact ellipsoids on the feet have been enhanced to include elements for each metatarsal and the hallux, providing for a more accurate force "footprint." Ground reaction contact force elements are automatically created between these ellipsoids and the ground for more accurate foot/floor contact force generation and better gait modeling.

HIC and NIC criteria Automatic Calculation
Common formulas for head and neck injury criteria have been implemented in an automated fashion. There are now tools to graphically select the time sequence in which the HIC and NIC values are calculated.

New Tennis Swing Tutorial
A new tennis swing tutorial has been developed. This tutorial teaches users how to import a tennis racket from the environment library into a full-body human model. The human model hits a tennis ball and the racket/ball contact is modeled and the force transmission of the contact through the racket, hands, elbow, shoulder, back is displayed.

New Hand Grasping Tutorial
This tutorial exercises many new features of LifeMOD/BodySIM 2007, including discretization of base parts, non-standard joints and muscles, muscle slide points, tendon sheaths, using mixed-mode motion agents, and finger-to-ball contact. The new demo displays a hand grasping a ball and then dropping the ball into a box. Finger joint forces and muscle and tendon loads are examined in this procedure.

New Whiplash Tutorial
A new whiplash investigation tutorial has been developed and added. This tutorial exercises the new plugin to LifeMOD, LifeMOD/NeckSIM. In addition, it exercises many new features in version 2007 including Hill muscle groups, disk forces, non-standard muscles and joints, and muscle slide points. Three modes of collision are investigated including forward collision, rearward collision and side collision. It also investigates motion and displacement of the vertebra as well as disk compression and muscle and ligament forces.

New Antagonistic Muscles Tutorial
The Antagonistic Muscles Tutorial combines the LifeMOD trainable muscles with the new Hill-based muscle to explore muscular co-contraction -- antagonistic effects. This tutorial models an arm flexing at the elbow and studies the elbow joint load for various activations of the triceps muscle group that co-contract with the biceps muscle group during elbow flexure activity.

Updated Total Knee Replacement Tutorial
The total knee replacement tutorial has been updated to use several new features in version 2007 including muscle wrapping via geometric contact for the quadriceps tendon in the trochlear groove of the femoral component.

Easy-to-Use Features
Most of the visualization controls have been organized into a single panel. This panel controls visibility, transparency, and sizing of most body components. It also has a feature that groups muscles into sets for human models with too many muscles, tendons and ligaments. In addition, the user interface has been completely restructured to make the human model building process even more intuitive than before.

ADAMS version 2005r2 Support
LifeMOD/BodySIM currently supports MSC.ADAMS versions 2005r2, 2005 and 2003. Support for earlier versions of ADAMS is being discontinued.

Version 2007.0.0 Plugins

Higher-order functionality for LifeMOD/BodySIM has been organized into plugin modules. These plugin modules will provide tools to automatically create high fidelity body components such as a highly detailed spine, foot, hand, etc. The initial introduction to this concept will feature two modules, LifeMOD/NeckSIM and LifeMOD/MotionMatrix.

LifeMOD/NeckSIM
This new plugin module includes features that will automatically discretize the cervical spine into individual vertebra. It also automatically creates either trainable joints, passive stiffness joints with the Hybrid III strength model, or 6 degrees-of-freedom disk forces.

LifeMOD/MotionMatrix
This new plugin module allows for the inclusion of a "skin matrix" of motion sensors used to drive the motion of the complete spine. These skin mounted sensors are arranged in a specific pattern on the back of the test subject. They then collect data and use it to train the muscles and joints in the spine for the subsequent forward-dynamics simulation. These sensors are especially convenient for marker locations which are challengingly ecluded.

Version 2005.1.0

This version introduces a new visualization method for muscle force and joint torques, expanded muscle modeling, and many new convenience features.

Muscle Parameter Library
LifeMOD now has a full library of muscle parameters including pCSA values, maximum tissue stresses, etc. These values are scaled based on body size, weight, height, age and gender.

User Specified Muscle Filters
New filtering agents let the user affect the force output of each muscle. A filter function may be applied to effectively turn off the muscle (0%) or to double its force output (200%).

Scaling Muscle Graphics
New muscle graphics scale during the animation of the simulation results based on force magnitudes. They also change color to indicate a inverse-dynamics ("training" model) or a forward-dynamics ("trained" model) simulation.

Scaling Joint-Torque Spheres
When torque-driven joints are used, spheres are created at each junction and will scale based on torque magnitudes during the animation. They also change color to indicate a inverse-dynamics ("training" model) or a forward-dynamics ("trained" model) simulation.

Scaling Muscle Force Output
To further control optimization during the forward-dynamics simulation, the user may scale the available strength of a particular muscle, from completely turning it off to increasing its potential.

Generalized Contact Algorithm
A extremely powerful generalized contact algorithm is now incorporated in LifeMOD to model joint-bearing surfaces, tissue wrapping elements, etc. With this new algorithm, any surface may generate a contact force with any other surface in the model.

Optimized Integrator Settings
A new integrator setting is available which is optimized to models with high incidents of contact forces.

Muscle Force Training Method Streamlined
The method to train the muscles (inverse-dynamics), then drive the model with the trained muscles (forward-dynamics) has been completely refined and simplified.

New Total Knee Replacement Tutorial
A completely new tutorial demonstrating the analysis of a total knee replacement system is incorporated. The new surface contact algorithm is used to generate the force of surface congruency.

Version 2005.0.0

This version introduces many performance and convenience features as well as two new tutorial programs.

10x Speed Improvement
LifeMOD/BodySIM has been completely optimized for macro processing speed resulting in tenfold increase in model-building speed since previous versions.

Motion Data Swapping
The capability to exchange motion data for existing motion agents. This is convenient when the user has several trials of data for the human model and wishes to make a direct comparison of human kinematics and kinetics. This feature is particularly useful for ergonomic applications.

Updated Joint Formulation with Passive Elements
This capability allows the user to repeat several cases of training the joints and running the forward-dynamics simulation. This feature is particularly useful for ergonomics applications.

Clinical Application: Rehabilitation Machine Tutorial
This simple example displays the effects of ramping up the stepping machine resistance torque on the muscle force magnitudes and timings. The information may be useful to researchers interested in the body's response to changing load patterns.

Ergonomics Application: Lifting Styles
It is well documented that there are ergonomically correct methods to lift heavy objects. This simple example examines the effect of lifting heavy objects using a "crouch lift" and a lift by rotating at the hips. The lumbar torques are compared for each lift.

MSC.ADAMS 2005 Support
BRG LifeMOD now currently supports MSC.ADAMS versions 2005, 2003 and 12.0

Motion Data Filter Function
A high/low pass butterworth filter is now available to automatically smooth imported motion data.

ADAMS/Solver File Export
The capability now exists to export ADAMS/Solver files with LifeMOD models, which allows the function on distributed computer environments.

Version 2004.1.4

The Technical Manual in PDF form is now accessible from the help button on the LifeMOD main dialog box and is stored in the Adams installation directory under the subdirectory "help."

Version 2004.1.0

This version introduces a new method for forward-dynamics simulations with full body muscle models. It also includes several new tutorials that provide details and additional help in using this feature.

Full Body Muscles
A detailed set of 118 muscles is automatically generated and attached to the bones at anatomical landmarks. The set is scalable with the skeletal geometry.

Muscles Learn
Upon generation, the muscles are fitted with "learning" elements. These elements record each muscle contraction during an inverse-dynamics simulation. The learning elements are then automatically replaced by active contractile elements which drive each muscle to enable the human model to accurately replicate the motion specified in the inverse-dynamics simulation.

Any Activity Can Be Muscle Driven
Any body motion may be simulated either using motion capture data to drive the simulation or by using user-input data to drive the motion agents.

Obtain Data on Muscle Forces and Timings
Using this method, the user may obtain data on individual muscle force magnitudes and muscle timings for any activity.

Easy-to-Generate
Updated generation speeds allow the user to create forward-dynamics simulations with personalized full body muscle models in a matter of minutes.

Full Body Muscle Studies
A simple method to create parameterized models, allows the opportunity to test and evaluate an infinite number of variables, relationships and effects. Tools are provided to relocate muscle attachment points and create new non-standard muscles.

Exercise Tutorial
To demonstrate the new full-body muscle feature, motion capture data from a human subject for a push-up type exercise can be used.The data drives the inverse-dynamics simulation via motion agents while the learning elements on each muscle record the contraction history for the activity. The learning elements are then replaced with active contractile elements and a forward-dynamics simulation is performed to obtain data on muscle force magnitudes and timings.

Muscle Relocation Tutorial
The full-body muscle feature is further demonstrated with an example of the effects of relocating a muscle attachment point. Two simulations are performed on a single leg model to examine the force change and the load-sharing changes in the surrounding tissues when the pelvic attachment of the gluteus medius muscle is relocated 3 millimeters.

Recreational Bungee Cord Jump Tutorial
A passive human model is allowed to drop from a stone arch with springs representing bungee cords attached to each ankle. To assess potential injuries, head acceleration and spinal joint loads are examined for a variety of bungee cord stiffness.

Version 2004.0.3

The main new features in this version are a new golfing tutorial and a new marker placement protocol for golfing.

Golfer with Total Hip Replacement Tutorial
This tutorial provides the user with an exposure to generating human models with both an imported internal mechanism (total hip replacement) and an imported external mechanism (golf club). This sophisticated tutorial takes the user though generating a full forward-dynamics simulation of a model swinging a flexible golf club to examine the loads on the club and the hip replacement, as well as muscle forces, joint torques, etc.

Golfer Full-Body Marker Placement Protocol
This new motion capture target marker placement protocol specifies locations on each body segment including a marker for the club to track the full body motion during the golf swing.

Updated Web Portal
The web portal (accessed by selecting the "?" on the main LifeMOD menu) now is integrated with the support function of the website, including links to the email support, links page, FAQ, and user forum.

Version 2004.0.0

Thanks to extensive user and partner input from the large and diverse LifeMOD user community from all over the world, LifeMOD/BodySIM 2004 now includes many features and functions to advance the utility well beyond the current state-of-the-art human modeling.

Over the past 12 months, new modeling technology developed for various commercial orthopedic manufacturers, academic and research institutions, sports equipment and performance centers, hospitals and injury evaluation centers, has been included in the new version of LifeMOD.

One of the primary areas of development was forward-dynamics simulation based on video-based motion capture data. For this capability, a detailed foot contact model was developed. Scaled contact ellipsoids are automatically positioned at the five metatarsal heads and the calcaneous to provide a contact profile with enough fidelity to produce accurate GRX and center of pressure travel histories during gait analysis.

Also, three different motion target protocols are accommodated including Davis/Helen Hayes, plug in-gait full body and segment CG full body. These protocols allow for the automatic generation of motion agents on the model. A weighting scheme allows the user to specify the relative contribution of each motion agent on the motion of the model. An automated equilibration scheme minimizes the error between the motion targets on the model and the target locations from the data.

For forward-dynamics simulations a force guidance method is used to balance and stabilize the model with minimal force application that helps account for any data error (occlusion, skin movement) or model/data discrepancy. Also, integration settings have been optimized for this particular composition of physics-based modeling entities in the human gait model.

Finally, a special Result Display dialog box is available to plot the data generated from the analysis.

Detailed Foot Contact
Scaled contact ellipsoids are automatically positioned at the five metatarsal heads, and the calcaneous. Contact forces between these surfaces and any other surface are automatically generated to provide accurate ground reaction data (6 components) and center of pressure travel histories.

Import/Export file
A new ASCII file protocol can be used to export information on a current model or to build a model based on information included in the file. This provides a convenient method to automate model building and storage. See Appendix for complete description of the protocol. The information contained in the file includes:

• Anthropometrical data
• Joint data
• Posture data
• Motion capture data

Motion Agent Placement Protocols
Three marker arrangements may be accommodated in LifeMOD for automatic motion agent generation. These include a Davis/Helen Hayes lower body protocol, a Plug in gait and full body protocol and a CG full body protocol. See Appendix for complete description of each protocol. Additional protocols will be included in subsequent releases.

Motion Agent Weighting
The relative contribution of each motion agent to the motion of the model may be specified by the user. More accurate motion targets may be specified as having greater influence on the model.

Automatic Motion Data Fitting
A new schematic has been developed to create the best fit between the human model and the marker locations from the motion capture data file. This method minimizes the offsets between the motion agent attachment locations on the model and the motion target locations contained in the data file.

Tracker Agent Force Balancing
A tracker agent may be specified to provide small forces to stabilize the model during the forward-dynamics simulation. The forces are based on tracking the motion of the body during the inverse-dynamics simulation where the model was guided by the motion data.

Automatic Contact Force Generation
Contact forces between the body segments and the environment may be generated automatically with minimal effort from the user. Foot/floor contact forces between the contact ellipsoids located at each metatarsal head and the calcaneous may be automatically generated.

Expanded Posture Library
Several new postures have been included in the library, including interactive joint angle control. Postures may also be exported using the export feature for later retrieval.

Partial Body Builder
The head, arms and trunk segments may be automatically removed for gait simulation involving only the legs, feet and pelvis.

Artificial Joints Import and Modeling Capability
A wide variety of orthopedic devices may be implanted in the human models, including total knee, total hips, spinal fixation, etc.

Global Parameterization
Many values in the model are parameterized and may be adjusted at any time during the modeling/simulation process including:

Optimized Integrator Settings for Human Simulation
Through a new Analyze dialog box, integrator settings may be set to "robust" to optimize settings for the forward-dynamics human simulation.

New Tutorials
All existing tutorials have been revamped and new tutorials introduced. New tutorials include:

• Forward-dynamics dancing
• Total hip replacement stair ascension
• Two person gait analysis and comparison
• Forward-dynamics gait simulation