Kinect controlled dinosaur simulations for education and public outreach

Dinosaurs are a source of enormous public interest and as such are useful for fostering greater interest in basic science and technology. With the increasing popularity of dinosaur films that claim to portray realistic dinosaur behaviour, one question that is regularly posed for palaeontologists to answer is how we know that our reconstructions are accurate. Dinosaur locomotion is no exception to this line of questioning and one technique for estimating how dinosaurs may have moved is multibody dynamic simulation (MBDA) of high biofidelity musculoskeletal computer models. Such simulations uses Newton's Law's of Motion to calculate how the different parts of the animals body would have moved depending on the internal forces generated by the muscles and the external forces due to gravity and physical contact with the ground. In this project we designed a system that allowed the user to directly control the muscles forces generated using a Kinect for Xbox One sensor attached to a PC using the Kinect Adaptor for Windows. The Kinect output is used to drive the muscles using customised software and models (<i>Tyrannosaurus</i>, <i>Triceratops</i>, <i>Brachiosaurus</i>, <i>Edmontonia</i>, <i>Edmontosaurus</i>, <i>Gorgosaurus</i>) based on our standard GaitSym MBDA system. The initial system was trialled over 7 days at the 2015 Cheltenham Science Festival which showed that the bipedal models were relatively easy to control using human body movements and provided a good vehicle to explain how the physics and physiology behind dinsoaur locomotor reconstruction. The quadrupedal models in their current form are much more difficult to control and further work is needed in this area. The 3D models and software for this project are freely available to download (http://www.animalsimulation.org) and it is hoped that they will find further uses in areas such as 3D printing for anatomical education and virtual world simulations.恐龙是极具公众关注度的类群，因此可用于激发大众对基础科学与技术的探索热情。随着声称还原真实恐龙行为的恐龙题材影片愈发流行，古生物学家时常被问及一个核心问题：我们如何确认恐龙复原模型的准确性？恐龙的运动方式自然也属于这类质疑的范畴，而估算恐龙运动模式的一项关键技术，便是基于高生物保真度肌肉骨骼计算机模型的多体动力学仿真（Multibody Dynamic Simulation, MBDA）。此类仿真依托牛顿运动定律，依据肌肉产生的内力以及重力、地面物理接触产生的外力，计算动物身体各部位的运动状态。本项目设计了一套交互系统，用户可通过连接个人电脑的Xbox One版Kinect传感器（搭配Windows端Kinect适配器）直接控制肌肉发力。该系统依托定制化软件与基于标准GaitSym多体动力学仿真框架构建的模型（包括霸王龙*Tyrannosaurus*、三角龙*Triceratops*、腕龙*Brachiosaurus*、埃德蒙顿甲龙*Edmontonia*、埃德蒙顿龙*Edmontosaurus*、戈尔冈龙*Gorgosaurus*），利用Kinect的输出数据驱动肌肉运动。这套初始系统于2015年切尔滕纳姆科学展开展了为期7天的试运营，结果显示，依托人体动作控制双足模型相对简便，该系统也成为阐释恐龙运动复原背后的物理学与生理学原理的优质载体。而现有版本的四足模型则更难操控，该领域仍需开展进一步研究。本项目的3D模型与软件可通过http://www.animalsimulation.org免费下载，我们期望其能在解剖学教育3D打印、虚拟世界仿真等领域得到更广泛的应用。