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Stanford's Open Source Human Motion Software

Posted by Soulskill on from the defining-the-mathematically-perfect-swagger dept.

eldavojohn writes "Stanford's OpenSim software is a human motion modeling package that is currently making the rounds at museums where 'visitors walk across a pressure-sensitive floor and are presented at the other side with color-coded print outs of their weight distribution, identifying even slight imbalances that might be putting undue stress on their limbs and joints.' This project can also help with planning surgery (video). The work has been published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (note that this is a different effort from the virtual world of the same name). Although Stanford's press release says it is now open source, I cannot find what license they are using, nor can I access their SVN browser after registering."

15 comments

  1. Is there a word for that? by blair1q · · Score: 2

    There should be a word for drawing attention to something that could have a completely different explanation.

    "Bullshit" seems a bit broad.

    If my weight is slightly imbalanced, it's probably because, like all humans, I am built asymmetrically, and I carry things in my pockets, or hands, or slung over my shoulder. And unless I am feeling pain it is unlikely that undue stress is being put on any part of my body.

    1. Re:Is there a word for that? by bennomatic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, you can have a lot of undue stress before pain comes; don't confuse "undue" with "acute". You could sit, maybe without noticing it at all, in a chair that has a 2-degree lean without feeling any pain for a long time. But that tilt could conceivably train your body to work at a less-than-optimal angle, and you could be building up strength to support it which later--when you get a good chair--causes your body to pull even further out of alignment.

      Or another undue-vs-acute example might be pack-a-day smokers. They often feel great about it. For years! Until suddenly they don't, and it's difficult to quit. Just because they weren't feeling pain doesn't mean they weren't stressing their bodies.

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    2. Re:Is there a word for that? by blair1q · · Score: 1

      I can understand a day, a week, or months without noticing imbalance.

      But we use our feet from birth to whenever. If you've grown up with an imbalanced gait, you're probably aware of it by now, and its deleterious effects have manifest.

      This whole thing sounds like the sort of "test" given by chiropractors and scientologists. Find a dysmorphism that's natural and unthreatening, then claim it's unnatural and threatening, then charge a lot for the cure, which may be worse than the non-problem (and don't forget to denigrate traditional remedies, since they're competition even if they're much better cures for actual cases of the problem).

    3. Re:Is there a word for that? by zaidsimra · · Score: 1

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    4. Re:Is there a word for that? by Jmc23 · · Score: 1

      Have you ever watched people walk? You can't see what you don't understand.

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      Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
  2. License/Source Code by Majestros · · Score: 1

    I have used this software before. You need to register as a "developer" to get access to the source code. Also, I'm pretty sure I recall that it used the MIT license (I think this was it), one that can be forked for profit, which struck me as dangerous as the software it is somewhat attempting to replicate, Simm, was originally made by the same principal investigator and was free until they spun off a company to develop it and now is something like $20,000 a year for an education license . . . .

    1. Re:License/Source Code by wmac1 · · Score: 0

      Even getting the API and binaries is a long process. You need to signup, confirm email, login and answer strange questions like "How do you expect to use the software". My answer was : "to take a look at it!!" It totally felt academic! BTW I have worked on the simulation of human behaviors and movements for about 6 years and this package could be a very good thing. But considering the license and the way it is being provided, I will only take a look at it.

    2. Re:License/Source Code by Daniel+Phillips · · Score: 1

      I don't have a problem with MIT license or anybody spinning off a proprietary for-profit version. Charge what the market will bear, that does not devalue the original gift to the community. I do have to say though that the "developer wall" barrier is just going to drive away most developers. Prove me wrong!

      The developer wall is not a complete stopper for me. It just puts this project right near the bottom of my interest list. My take on it at the moment is that Stanford as an institution does not get open source.

      Did anybody succeed in checking the source out of Subversion?

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    3. Re:License/Source Code by Daniel+Phillips · · Score: 1

      By the way, one of the nice features of the MIT license is, anybody can take the code and GPL it.

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  3. Sounds familiar by treeves · · Score: 1

    a lot like Wii Fit, to be exact. Except Wii Fit gives you exercises to try to improve your balance. This just tells you if there's a problem.

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    ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
    1. Re:Sounds familiar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you had read the article, you would realize that OpenSim has a lot more potential than the simple PR demo that they are giving. I have used it fairly extensively, and it is a complex biomechanical simulation and modeling software package. Although it has some shortfalls (e.g. limited model creation tools), it is vastly more useful to the scientific research community than a "Wii Fit". For example, it has routines for inverse kinematics and dynamics, CMC, RRA and static optimization, among others, that can be run once a dataset (motions, force-plate data, etc.) is imported for the specific model. I did have some issues with the program crashing, but I was using an older (less stable) version.

  4. Commercial Version by chill · · Score: 1

    Soon to be followed by a version that recommended custom padded insoles for your shoes.

    Oh, wait...

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  5. Where's Dr. Bob? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when you need him?

  6. Virtual word by TuringTest · · Score: 1

    The work has been published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (note that this is a different effort from the virtual world of the same name).

    There's a virtual world called IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering?? ...

    How do I sign up?

    --
    Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
  7. Old news by PSandusky · · Score: 1

    OpenSim's been around for years. Slow news day, Slashdot?

    --
    "What's the use in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?" --Fourth Doctor, "Robot"