Multibody System Dynamics - Call for Papers: Special Issue on Multibody Biomechanics
Guest Editors:
Thomas K. Uchida, University of Ottawa, Canada
John McPhee, University of Waterloo, Canada
Josep M. Font-Llagunes, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
Submission date: December 31, 2024
Description:
Over the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in applications of multibody system dynamics to the study of the biomechanics of movement. For example, using predictive “what-if” human dynamic simulations that do not rely on experimental testing or prototypes, new medical interventions and devices can be developed more quickly, cheaply, and safely. This collection invites theoretical and experimental studies dealing with biomechanical applications of multibody system dynamics in clinical practice, medical and assistive device design, sports, and industrial ergonomics.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Neuromusculoskeletal modelling and dynamic simulation
- Human movement analysis
- Predictive simulation of movement
- Analysis of neural control adaptation to rehabilitation technologies
- Optimal design of assistive technologies
- Analysis of sports movements and/or equipment to maximize performance
- Ergonomics and human factors
- Human-robot interaction
- Animal locomotion
This special issue will bring researchers closer together and shall boost the visibility within the multibody system dynamics community but also beyond.
How to submit
All papers must be prepared in accordance with the Instructions for Authors at: https:/link.springer.com/journal/11044/submission-guidelines (this opens in a new tab). Authors should submit via the online submission site (this opens in a new tab) and select article type "Multibody Biomechanics".
Submitted papers should present original, unpublished work, relevant to one of the topics of the special issue. All papers will be evaluated on the basis of relevance, significance of contribution, technical quality, scholarship, and quality of presentation by at least two reviewers. It is the policy of the journal that no submission, or substantially overlapping submission, be published or be under review at another journal or conference at any time during the review process. Final decisions on all papers are made by the Editors-in-Chief.
Accepted papers will become immediately available at Online First until the complete Special Issue appears.
Guest Editor Biographies
Prof. Thomas K. Uchida studied Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, receiving a B.A.Sc. (Mechatronics Option, Co-operative Program, With Distinction) in 2006 and a Ph.D. in 2011. In his Ph.D. work, he applied tools from symbolic computation to simulate constrained multibody systems in real time and built a hardware-in-the-loop driving simulator to prototype new vehicle stability controllers. In 2012, Prof. Uchida joined the Bioengineering Department at Stanford University as a Simbios Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow and was promoted to Engineering Research Associate in 2015. His research at Stanford included development of a new model for simulating impacts in multibody systems, contributions to models of muscle contraction dynamics and energy consumption, and simulation of assistive devices to reduce the metabolic cost of locomotion. He returned to Canada in 2018 to join the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ottawa. He co-authored Biomechanics of Movement: The Science of Sports, Robotics, and Rehabilitation (MIT Press, 2021) with Scott Delp at Stanford. The book examines human and animal movement through the lens of mechanics.
Dr. John McPhee received his degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Acadia University, the Technical University of Nova Scotia, and the University of Waterloo, Canada. He worked at the Université de Liège, Belgium, and Queen’s University, Canada, before taking a faculty position in 1992 at Waterloo, where he is now a Professor in Systems Design Engineering and the Canada Research Chair in Biomechatronic System Dynamics. Dr. John McPhee is Canada’s leading expert in system dynamics. He has pioneered the mathematical development of graph-theoretic modelling and its application to the unified dynamics of multidisciplinary physical systems. His intellectual achievements, published in 177 journal papers and 309 conference papers and abstracts, have been recognized by the NSERC Synergy Award for Innovation (presented by the Governor-General of Canada), 10 Best Paper awards, the Engineering Excellence Medal from Professional Engineers Ontario, and an NSERC Discovery Accelerator Grant. His ground-breaking graph-theoretic methods have been commercialized by Maplesoft and licensed to thousands of users worldwide. Applications of his work range from stroke rehabilitation robots to sports engineering to autonomous vehicles. Dr. McPhee is internationally recognized for his original contributions; he is the Vice-Chair and former Chair of the International Association for Multibody System Dynamics, a co-founder of 2 journals and 3 international technical committees, a frequent keynote speaker, and an Associate Editor for 6 leading journals in his field. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Engineering Institute of Canada. Dr. McPhee has supervised 116 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom are academic leaders at other universities in Canada and abroad.
Josep Maria Font-Llagunes is a Full Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). He is also the Director of the UPC Doctoral School and Assistant Director for Innovation at the Research Centre for Biomedical Engineering (CREB). In the past, he served as Assistant Director for Research and Technology Transfer (2017-2021) and Postgraduate Studies (2013-2017) at the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB). Josep Maria Font-Llagunes obtained Master’s Degrees in Industrial Engineering (minor in Mechanical Engineering) and Biomedical Engineering from UPC, and received his PhD Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Universitat de Girona. Then, he was postdoctoral fellow at the Applied Dynamics Group of the Centre for Intelligent Machines (CIM) at McGill University (Canada). In 2009, he founded the Biomechanical Engineering Lab (BIOMEC) at UPC. The group develops computational methods for the analysis and prediction of human movement, innovative robotic exoskeletons for gait assistance, and wearable monitoring technology for rehabilitation. Josep Maria Font-Llagunes has published more than 40 articles in indexed journals, 130 conference papers, and has supervised or co-supervised 7 PhD theses. He is an Editorial Board member of the journal Multibody System Dynamics, and currently chairs the Technical Committee for Multibody Dynamics of IFToMM. Josep Maria Font-Llagunes also co-founded the company ABLE Human Motion, which develops exoskeleton technology for people with mobility impairments. His work has been recognized by several awards, such as the Agustín de Betancourt y Molina Medal awarded by the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering (2017), the OpenSim Outstanding Researcher Award (2017), the prestigious Leonardo Grant by the BBVA Foundation (2018), and the UPC Award for Social Commitment (2021).