Spring 2012

H79.2924.1 Biomechanics for Interactive Design Syllabus

Thur 6:30pm to 9:00pm in 406

Dustyn Roberts (dustyn@nyu.edu)

Description: This class is designed to equip students with basic knowledge of biomechanics and human movement, as well as of sensors that can be used to track, visualize, or measure different aspects of it. The study of human movement dates back before the days of da Vinci, and readings covered throughout the class will give students an appreciation of the evolution of this field as an art and a science. Materials covered in class will range from basic anatomy and vocabulary used to talk about motion, limits of human athletic performance, balance, how human joints function and how muscles create movement, human factors in product design, etc. The lectures will serve as a foundation for a midterm project in designing a system to track, measure, or visualize some aspect of gait, and a more open-ended final project that will deal with exploring human motion through a physical system or expressing understanding of biomechanics through other mediums like video, sound, generative artwork, and more. Both individual and small group work will be required. Prerequisite: Intro to Physical Computing

For each week, you’ll find:

  • Concepts we’ll discuss in class. Course notes are linked so you can read them before class, to know what we’re talking about.
  • Homework is assigned the week it is listed, and due the week after (unless otherwise notified). Reading, projects, etc. will come up in discussion the week after, so be prepared.

Grading

Since the program is Pass/Fail, 80% and above will be considered Pass

  • Attendance 30%
    • Missing more than 2 classes or being late to more than 5 classes is an automatic failure
    • If you’re going to be late or absent, please email me in advance. If you have an emergency, please let me know as soon as you can.
  • Participation & Homework 30%
    • You are required to keep an online journal/blog of your work. At a minimum, reference to each week’s work is expected, as well as reference to any readings, and thorough documentation of the projects and technical research.
    • This a new class, and will be changing and evolving weekly. Please ask questions if anything isn’t clear. I will keep you posted of any changes, but check the website frequently.
  • Projects (midterm and final) 40%

Office Hours/Help

Office hours by appointment in my office at NYU-Poly (A/F train to Jay St, Rogers Hall 520A), and email me any time. Skype has a screen share feature that’s also great for remote help. My Skype name is dustyn.roberts. Feel free to email me any time, and also feel free to use the Google group to post questions and initiate discussions (biomechanics-spring-2012@googlegroups.com).

Laptops & Phones

  • Please keep your phone on silent/vibrate or off. If you have an emergency that may require you to answer your phone during class, please tell me ahead of time.
  • Laptops can be used to follow a reading we are discussing or during work sessions. Otherwise, lids down. The quality of the class depends in large part on the quality of your attention and active participation.

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WEEK 1 (1/26)

Intros! Name, year at ITP, background, why you are taking this class
History of biomechanics
Introduction to Research

Homework

  • Find and read: F. Gemperle, C. Kasabach, J. Stivoric, M. Bauer, and R. Martin, “Design for Wearability,” in Proc. of Second International Symposium on Wearable Computers, 1998, pp. 116-122.
  • Send me a link to your blog that I can post on the Student Page
  • Identify someone who works in the field of biomechanics from ancient times through the present. Blog about their work (include at least one picture or video) and discuss anything particularly intriguing. Also include one citation of their work (in link form if possible) of either a journal article or book they wrote.

WEEK 2 (2/2)

Biomechanics Vocab and Basics
Fastest anatomy lesson ever
OpenSim

Homework

  • Read pg 23-24 in Chapter 1 of Making Things Move
  • Read chapter 4 in Making Things Move
  • Choose at least one joint and at least one plane of motion, and map the range of motion in some sort of digital or physical representation
  • Get in groups of 3 and register your Fitbit here. Divide the next week of wearing it between your group members.

WEEK 3 (2/9)

Guest Speaker: Greg Borenstein
Fitbit in-class lab

Homework

  • Complete visualization of Fitbit data
    • Challenge questions: what is your average stride length? How many calories do you burn per stride?
  • Find, read, and respond to: J. M. Donelan, Q. Li, V. Naing, J. A. Hoffer, D. J. Weber, and A. D. Kuo, “Biomechanical Energy Harvesting: Generating Electricity During Walking with Minimal User Effort,” Science, vol. 319, no. 5864, pp. 807 -810, Feb. 2008.

WEEK 4 (2/16)

Sensors for Biomechanics
Gait Analysis

Homework

  • Sensor exploration: Pick a sensor you are interested in exploring that has applications to biomechanics (if you choose something not on the sensors post list, please see me first). Create a report or edit one of the existing reports on the Sensor Workshop wiki.
    • IMPORTANT: Tom’s class is working on these too, so email the physcomp list to make sure you DO NOT overlap
    • You can work in pairs if you choose
  • Midterm project: design a system to track, measure, or visualize some spatial/kinematic or temporal/kinetic element of gait using anything from simple FSRs in a shoe to Kinect motion tracking. Work in pairs or alone, your choice.
    • Option 1: Functional prototype and demonstration (documentation: blog post)
    • Option 2: Paper prototype (documentation: Report research in the form of a draft of a publication quality paper (to be continued for final). This version will have the introduction and methods, while results and discussion will be left for the final)

WEEK 5 (2/23)

Guest Speaker: Andrew Kraszewski from the Leon Root M.D. Motion Analysis Lab at the Hospital for Special Surgery
Limits of athletic performance

Homework

WEEK 6 (3/1)

Midterm project workshop

WEEK 7 (3/8)

Midterm project presentations

SPRING BREAK

WEEK 8 (3/22)

Biomechanics of Major Joints
Wolff’s Law and why you lose bone density in space
Research with Human Subjects
Intro to Balance and Proprioception
Midterm evaluations

Homework

  • Choose one joint. Make a physical model of it, either 2D or 3D, in a medium of your choosing. This could be embroidery, jello, 3D printed CAD model, etc. It does not need to be to scale. Bonus points if it moves.
  • For that same joint, identify an injury that can happen to it that a well designed product might help. For example: knee, ACL tear, DonJoy Female Fource Brace
    • Find a journal article on that injury at that joint, and include a reading response in your blog post.

WEEK 9 (3/29)

Guest Speaker: Dan Formosa, co-founder of Smart Design
Midterm Evaluations Summary
Vote on rescheduling class vs. extending final class.

Homework

  • Develop final project. Come back in two weeks with ideas for roundtable discussion, and be prepared to think about next steps.

WEEK 10 (4/12)

Note extended final class
Open Hardware Summit announcement
USA Science & Engineering Festival plug
Balance and Proprioception revisited
Biomechanics in Product Design revisited
Biomaterials and Sensitivity
Final projects round table discussion
Workshop

Homework

  • Continue work on final project

WEEK 11 (4/19)

Kinematics and Kinetics, 3D motions
Final projects round table discussion
Workshop

Homework

  • Continue work on final project
    • Create work in progress blog post
  • Bring work in for workshop next week

WEEK 12 (4/26)

Final projects workshop

Homework

  • Continue work on final project
  • Prepare final project presentation
  • Feel free to bring snacks/drinks to add to the refreshments next week!

WEEK 13 (5/3) **Extended class time 5-9pm

Final project presentations

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