Muscular system modeling
Download in PDF- Lecturer: Christophe Sauret, Helene Pillet, Xavier Bonnet (helene.pillet@ensam.eu, xavier.bonnet@ensam.eu, Christophe.sauret@invalides.fr)
- Course code: UM5RBM21
- Student workload: 8 h of lectures, 8 h of tutorials, 8 h of labs
- Credits: 3 ECTS
- Specialization tracks: ROBOT SI MeDH
- Semester offered: S1 S2 S3 S4
- Language of instruction: French English
- Targeted audience: Eng. Sc. department Other : ENSAM
- Localization : PMC Campus Other : ENSAM
Course Overview
This UE provides fundamental knowledge on modeling the human body—from an articulated rigid body chain for kinematic and dynamic motion analysis, to a complex musculoskeletal system for estimating internal muscular forces and physiological behaviors
Mots-clés : Motion capture, 3D kinematics, anatomical interpretation, inverse dynamics, muscle physiology, musculoskeletal modeling
Prerequisites
Students should have previously acquired the following prerequisites to follow this course:
- Linear algebra : vectorial space, matrix computation, system of coordinates
- Kinematics : velocity of a point, angular velocity of a rigid body, position and orientation in space
- Dynamics of rigid bodies : fundamental principles, inertia, wrench computation
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- cite different technologies of motion capture and their advantages and drawback , cite sources of inaccuracy in motion analysis
- compute anatomical frames from a given set of markers and check the orthonormality, cite the steps of computation to calculate and interpret articular angles from the mobile axis method
- explain the principle of inverse kinematics and understand the steps of the process
- compute the moment of a force at a given point to estimate the intersegmental moment at different joint levels
- perform basic programming in Matlab
- Understand muscle physiology and model its behavior.
- Estimate muscle forces from joint moments calculated via inverse dynamics.
Indicative Teaching Sequence and Methods
| Week | C/TD/TP* | Content | Preparation | Learn.\ outc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | C/TP | Matlab intro / Kinematics | ||
| S2 | C/TP | Inverse Dynamics | ||
| S3 | C | motion capture devices and inverse kinematics | ||
| S4 | C | Muscle physio | ||
| S5 | C | Muscle modelisation | ||
| S6 | C/TP | Muscle force estimation |
- C/TD/TP respectively corresponds to lectures, tutorials and lab sessions.
Indicative Assessment of Intended Learning Outcomes (1st session)
| Week | Individ./group | In-person/remote | Type of exam | Evaluated outcomes | Scale % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S2 | Individual | In-person | TP | AAV 1-5 | 20% |
| S6 | Individual | In-person | TP | AAV 5-7 | 20% |
| S6 | Individual | In-person | Written exam | AAV 1-7 | 60% |
2nde session
| Session | Individ./group | In-person/remote | Type of exam | Evaluated outcomes | Scale % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Individuel | In-person | TP | AAV 1-5 | 20% |
| 1 | Individuel | In-person | TP | AAV 5-7 | 20% |
| 2 | Individuel | In-person | Written exam | AAV 1-7 | 60% |
Date of generation of this unit description: 06/10/2026
