Topic: MuJoCo

Computational biomechanical models have been essential in understanding the interplay between neurons, biomechanics, and physical environments. The salamander Pleurodeles waltl is one important model organism for studying neuromechanics behind amphibious locomotion with regeneration capabilities. However, previous salamander models were either strongly simplified in geometry and physics or relied heavily on artificial parameter tuning without an accurate mapping of experimental data. Here, we present a biomechanical modeling and optimization pipeline grounded in animal data to build a biologic

Most walking animals can maintain motor control after limb injury or amputation, where coordinating movements of a drastically altered body requires dynamic interactions between the nervous system, the biomechanics of the body, and the physical environment. Until recently, it has been challenging to link neural and biomechanical models to investigate adaptive motor recovery because it requires coupling neural control in closed-loop with the environment. Further, while previous approaches have been able to simulate walking in biomechanically realistic bodies, the joint kinematics and ground rea

Computational models have been seminal in expanding our understanding of how neural, biomechanical, or physical elements can give rise to behavior. With the forthcoming emergence of nearly complete connectomes of the central nervous system, musculature, and biomechanics of Drosophila, it is only now possible to construct models grounded in anatomy and physiology. Biological experiments, in reciprocity, could complement these models, verifying and enhancing their accuracy. Here, we leverage a biomechanical model of Drosophila to build, for the first time, a Hill-type muscle model using X-ray sc