COMBO

The ComBO project team aim to develop biomechanical models and numerical methods for analyzing and simulating human-system interaction in field, with a large application spectrum to sports, ergonomics and clinics. We define ourselves as digital biomechanicians, which is a unique skill within Inria, while having strong connections with the fields of robotics and virtual reality.

Research themes

• Ready-to-go Biomechanical Models: The current maturity of musculoskeletal modelling and personalizing tools, and the democratisation of medical imaging data, mean that in the near future it will be possible to create detailed biomechanical models of humans that can be personalised with just a few measurements and a few clicks. This objective aim at representing specific subjects (high-level athletes, specific disabilities), or particular populations (workers in a given sector, age cohorts, etc.). To achieve this objective, it is necessary to develop both statistical learning methods to reduce the specific data required to establish a model representative of a given population, and model-informed methods based on anatomical and physiological knowledge to obtain unique characteristics representative of the subject’s physical capabilities.
• Efficient Extended Environments: The emergence of immersion tools such as Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) and haptic interfaces makes it possible to envisage the creation of virtual or augmented environments that can be used to study the physical activity of interacting humans in an efficient manner. In particular,sports applications of this type raise a number of scientific questions, including the quality of immersion, the fidelity of physical interactions with the environment, and the evaluation of training methods using this paradigm (skills training), in particular regarding the biases integrated into the perception-action loop (perception of one’s body, shift in sensory stimuli, etc.). Such questions may also be developed for other applications (ergonomics, clinics).
• Human-System Interaction: The development of computing capacity and the associated algorithms make it possible to implement detailed co-simulations of humans and the systems with which they interact, whether from a sports (athlete-sports equipment), ergonomics (worker-assistive device) or clinical (patient-medical device) point of view. In particular, these simulations and the study of the resulting interactions can be used to predict the impact of systems on the performance of a given task, thereby accelerating their prototyping oroptimizing their use. These objectives raise a number of scientific challenges, such as modelling the human-system interface, integrating control into the simulation and rigid-deformable coupling in the simulation loop. It also raises questions about the interpretability of the results and their analyses.
• Ready-to-go Field Analysis: Field analysis methods will become more widespread in the future, particularly for monitoring athletes during their training. In the long term, these analysis methods could lead to significant improvements in training, whether in terms of physical preparation, injury prevention or optimisation of the sporting gesture. This perspective can be transposed to physical activity in the workplace for injury prevention, or for monitoring patients on a daily basis. However, the accuracy and quantity of the data available mean that this analysis is very partial at present, and requires the development of methods based on learning and biomechanics to increase the data available and maximise the relevance of the approach for the practitioner. The latter also requires the tools to be designed from a field perspective, by co-constructing the analysis tools with those practitioners.

International and industrial relations

International Partners: University of Limmerick (Irland), Université de Montréal (Canada), University of Vancouver (Canada), Aalborg University (Denmark), Chyprus University (Chyprus), Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (Germany)

Industrial Partners: LAb4i, Safran, Interdigital, Stade Rennais FC, Phyling, Trinoma, Moovency 

Federal Partners: Fédération Française de Football (FFF), Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT), Fédération Française de Boxe (FFB), Fédération Française d’Athlétisme (FFA), Fédération Française de Gymnastique (FFG), Fédération Française de Natation (FFN)

Clinical Partners: Pôle Saint Hélier (Rennes), Hopital Sud (Rennes)