Biomechanics

A course project submitted to

Avantika University
for
FOUNDATION COURSE
in PHYSICAL WORLD

Submitted
By
Harshit Karir (AU17A1060) Piyush Agrawal (AU17A1075)
Mayank Soni (AU17B1007) Aman Soni (AU17A1041)

Under the Guidance of

(Prof. Gautam Karve)
for
First semester
Bachelor of Design (B. Des.)/Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech.)

Avantika University
Vishwanathpuram, Lekoda, Ujjain-456 006, M.P., India
Harshit Karir (AU17A1060) Piyush Agrawal (AU17A1075)
Mayank Soni (AU17B1007) Aman Soni (AU17A1041)

at Avantika University, Ujjain, M.P.

have submitted a course project report for the first semester on,

Biomechanics in Animal locomotion and Kinesiology

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Foundation Course in Physical

World of Avantika University, during the academic year 2017-18.

Prof. Gautam Karve

(Course project advisor)

Avantika University
Vishwanathpuram, Lekoda, Ujjain-456 006, M.P., India
 1. Introduction
Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of the mechanical aspects of biological

systems, at any level from whole organisms to organs, cells and cell organelles, using the

methods of mechanics.

Biomechanics is closely related to engineering because it often uses traditional engineering

sciences to analyze biological systems. Some simple applications of Newtonian mechanics

and/or materials sciences can supply correct approximations to the mechanics of many

biological systems. Applied mechanics, most notably mechanical engineering disciplines such

as continuum mechanics, mechanism analysis, structural analysis, kinematics, and dynamics

play prominent roles in the study of biomechanics.

Usually, biological systems are much more complex than man-built systems. Numerical

methods are hence applied in almost every biomechanical study. Research is done in an

iterative process of hypothesis and verification, including several steps of modeling, computer

simulation, and experimental measurements.

Subfields

Applied subfields of biomechanics include:

 Soft body dynamics

 Kinesiology (kinetics + physiology)

 Animal locomotion & Gait analysis

  Musculoskeletal & orthopedic biomechanics

 Cardiovascular biomechanics

 Ergonomy

 Human factors engineering & occupational biomechanics

 Implant (medicine), Orthotics & Prosthesis

 Rehabilitation

 Sports biomechanics

 Allometry

 Injury biomechanics

 Bio tribology

 Biofluid mechanics

 Comparative biomechanics

 Computational biomechanics

Main features

Main features of our project are that we observe and study the two main subfields of

biomechanics i.e. kinesiology and animal locomotion, where we observe the movement,

mechanism, study the concepts of biomechanics. Our research involves our introduction to

biomechanics and it's subcategories where we study that biomechanics is not about human

movement but also to analyze and work to improve the performance of an individual. For

example, while studying about sports biomechanics we were able to know that Biomechanics
in sports can be stated as the muscular, joint and skeletal actions of the body during the

execution of a given task, skill and/or technique. A proper understanding of biomechanics

relating to sports skill has the greatest implications for sport's performance, rehabilitation and

injury prevention, along with sports mastery. As noted by Doctor Michael Yesses, one could

say that best athlete is the one that executes his or her skill the best.

1. Animal locomotion - Animal locomotion, in ethology, is any of a variety of movements

or methods that animals use to move from one place to another. Some modes of

locomotion are (initially) self-propelled, e.g., running, swimming, jumping, flying,

hopping, soaring and gliding. There are also many animal species that depend on their

environment for transportation, a type of mobility called passive locomotion, e.g.,

sailing (some jellyfish), kiting (spiders) and rolling (some beetles and spiders).

Animals move for a variety of reasons, such as to find food, a mate, a suitable

microhabitat, or to escape predators. For many animals, the ability to move is essential

for survival and, as a result, natural selection has shaped the locomotion methods and

mechanisms used by moving organisms. For example, migratory animals that travel

vast distances (such as the Arctic tern) typically have a locomotion mechanism that

costs very little energy per unit distance, whereas non-migratory animals that must

frequently move quickly to escape predators are likely to have energetically costly, but

very fast, locomotion.

 The anatomical structures that animals use for movement, including cilia, legs, wings,

arms, fins, or tails, in various modes and through various media are sometimes referred

to as locomotor organs or locomotor structures.

2. Kinesiology - Kinesiology is the scientific study of human or non-human body

movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, biomechanical, and psychological

mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health (i.e., human

kinesiology) include biomechanics and orthopedics; strength and conditioning; sports

psychology; methods of rehabilitation, such as physical and occupational therapy; and

sport and exercise. Studies of human and animal motion include measures from motion

tracking systems, electrophysiology of muscle and brain activity, various methods for
monitoring physiological function, and other behavioral and cognitive research

techniques.

It involves the study of the movement of the human body, where we can study the

Experts can analyze movement patterns by using a technique known as movement

analysis. This is important because, by studying videos, scientists can receive crucial

feedback, which can enhance their understanding of both biomechanics and

kinesiology. Common sports movements such as throwing, kicking, or hitting can be

broken down into three steps which are:

 Preparation of the move

 Execution of the move

 Follow through on the move

Future trends

1. While studying biomechanics we were able to know that its used in every aspect of life.

The thing which inspires us a lot and made us realize its future scope is in the field of

human factors and ergonomics i.e. study of human behavior using human psychology,

engineering, biomechanics, industrial design, physiology, and anthropometry. It is the

study of designing equipment, devices, and processes that fit the human body and its

cognitive abilities.

MERC’s Reliability and Human Engineering Division employs biomedical and

industrial engineers who specialize in the analysis, adaptation, and redesign of work and work

environments in order to optimize human performance. Work activities include human factors

analysis; analysis of crew stations; design of tools and workspace; ergonomic risk analysis,

mitigation, and training; and rehabilitation engineering. We quantify the physical and

cognitive requirements of tasks, develop criteria for matching people and tools with task

requirements, study the ergonomic risk involved in jobs and how to mitigate it, develop design

criteria for tools and work environments to support human activity, and many other human

factors-related activities.

2. The second interesting thing which we found out in research is that biomechanics is

used in sports and being a sports lover, we were really interested in know that how

biomechanics work in sports. UFC performance institute, Kitman labs, and P3 applied

sports science are some of the institutes which train their athletes through the
 biomechanics. They observe their body movements, posture and train them in a way

that they can give their best performance on the field. After all, that matter is a proper

technique which these labs/gyms provide them with data and train them in the specific

areas where they need improvement. Athletes like Conor McGregor, Floyd

Mayweather undergoes this kind of conditioning programmes where their posture,

movement, and injuries are treated before the fight.

Biomechanics can play a crucial role in both injury prevention as well as performance

enhancement. It is important for athletes of all ages and skill levels to understand the

importance of education to develop proper mechanics. Education can come in multiple

forms, but with the emphasis on the visual learner in today’s society, visual feedback

is one of the most effective ways to modify an athlete’s technique and allow them to

perform at the most efficient level possible. An athlete’s ability to perform efficiently

and injury free are two key features in performance outcome and can both be improved

with Biomechanical analysis.

3. Biological fluid mechanics, or biofluid mechanics, is the study of both gas and liquid

fluid flows in or around biological organisms. An often studied liquid biofluids problem

is that of blood flow in the human cardiovascular system. Under certain mathematical

circumstances, blood flow can be modeled by the Navier–Stokes equations. In vivo

whole blood is assumed to be an incompressible Newtonian fluid. However, this

assumption fails when considering forward flow within arterioles. At the microscopic

scale, the effects of individual red blood cells become significant, and whole blood can

no longer be modeled as a continuum. An example of a gaseous biofluids problem is

that of human respiration. Recently, respiratory systems in insects have been studied

for bioinspiration for designing improved microfluidic devices.

 4. Biomechanical engineering is that part of biomechanics which is used in the medical

sector. It is used to treat the disease in the human body through different biomechanical

techniques and equipment. Biomechanical engineering is a bioengineering

subdiscipline, which applies principles of mechanical engineering to biological systems

and stems from the scientific discipline of biomechanics. Topics of interest in the field

include biomedical engineering and agricultural engineering. Biomechanics,

specifically, is the study of biological systems such as the human body, combined with

the study of mechanics, or mechanical applications. Using the skills learned from

biology, engineering, and physics to research and development for health care, such as

organs that have been made from artificial materials, or new advances with prosthetic

limbs. The creation of biomaterial, which is a fake material that can be integrated into

living tissue or can live in sync with biological material, is one of the biggest advances

in medicine to this day.

Design

As our mentor prof. Gautam karve told us that we should concentrate more on design. So we

decided to design two models i.e. one of animal locomotion and one of kinesiology using the

same mechanism of gears and motor. Though our design was really simple it supports the

concept of biomechanics in it as we make our model in such a way that movement of both

models is according to animal and human.

The mechanism consists of 3 sets of connecting gears which are connected to the motor. We

have designed the gear in such a way that the motor will work on only one gear and from it the
rest two gear will work, moreover we were trying to make our prototype with cardboard box

which is really low mass so we don’t want to connect the legs to the main gear which was

connected to the legs of the robot . so while working we will observe that legs of our both

models are connected to the remaining two gears.

Robot dog mechanism – As we have to design a robot dog so we thought of studying animal

locomotion of dog or most of the four-legged animals and we were able to know that they step

with their right hind leg followed by the right foreleg, and so on. So, we conclude that the four-

legged animals walk in a way that their alternative opposite legs move in the same direction,

so for this, we have to connect its alternative opposite legs in such a way that it in the same

direction at a time.
Human-robot mechanism – For kinesiology we have to study the walking pattern of a normal

human being and as we all know that humans are two-legged creatures which use their legs in

a such a way that every time their one leg comes forward their second leg goes backward and

walking involves this continuous process. So, in kinesiology, we attached the two legs to the

remaining gears of the human model where one leg is operation when its gear start working.
 2. Material and Method
1. Material – Material required for our project is very simple

 cardboard boxes

 fevicol

 scissors

 glue gun

 cutter

 motor

 pencil

 scale

 rounder

 rubber band

 drill machine

material required for our project was really simple as we tried to make our model from the very

light material as the availability of heavy motors were not there.

2. Method – Method of making our prototypes of a robot dog and human-robot is very

simple as we used gear and motors in our robots to work. We designed a mechanism in

such a way that or model will contain 3 sets of gear which will be connected to each

other and is operated by a motor. The motor is connected to the middle gear which is

the main gear and is connected to other gears which will operate legs of our model.
We took measurements of a cardboard box to prepare our model. For robot dog, we cut

4 rectangular pieces of a cardboard box and attached it making a rectangular area for

gears. For gears, we cut 6 circles of 2.5 cm and 3 3 circles of 1 cm radius. then we

attached 2 big circles with a small circle in such a way that it creates a space in between

two circles making it a gear for our model. After then we make four legs for robot dog.

After the preparation of our material, we began to assemble our prototype, initiating it

by making the gear system of the robot dog. after making the gear system we attached

the motor in our model and connecting motor with the gear by attaching rubber bands.

Then we attached the legs of our robot, which is one of the most important parts of our

robot as if this thing goes wrong we won't be able to make it work. So we decided to

attach the alternate opposite legs at a time as these two legs will work together, so after

attaching it with gears we attached those legs together and the process with other two

legs.
 3. Result and analysis -
As result, we want to tell about the problems we faced while making the model. We made 6

prototypes of both models and with every model, we were able to know about the drawbacks

of our model and what should we improve in our next attempt. one of the critical problems we

faced is the tension between the gears, this was the problem we faced in every prototype we

made, actually, the cardboard we used with rubber bands was creating tension between the

gears so, our robot dog was not working. The second problem we faced was movement of legs

in both prototypes, as we have arranged our prototypes in such a way that it was having proper

movement of legs but when it comes to walking, it was not working as there was problem of

balance in between the legs, moreover legs were colliding with each other while walking. Then

we faced problems like the size of the model, size of gear, battery issues. Sometimes we weren’t

able to move our robot as the body of our robot was really big and heavy and the battery

available at that time was not of enough power to make our prototype work.

Analysis- what we analyze while making our model was that the gear speed matters a lot in

making our robot work. As our gear mechanism works in connection with each other and the

main gear is connected to the motor and other two gears are connected with the main gear. It's

like that, the main gear is responsible for the movement of other two gears. So the speed of the

gear connected to the motor is higher then the rest of the gears as the force is divided among

the two gears. So we have to take care of the fact that the legs should be attached to the rest of

the two gears and not with the main gear as the speed difference between the two gears will

create a problem in the movement and walking style of our robots.

We design a robot dog which shows the functions of animal locomotion in biomechanics and

we also prepare a human robot which represents the kinesiology of biomechanics. Our research

work includes the study of movements of four-legged and two-legged creatures. From them,

we were able to know its usage in different sections of society. Today most of the surgeries

happen involves biomechanics in it. Even professional athletes use biomechanics to be good in

their games as it analyses their body and tells them in which part of the body or in which area

of their performance they should be working on to increase their performance.

 4. Summary -
We observe that after making 6 prototypes of our models we were able to analyze the problems

we are facing with our project. I think the problem and the analyzing part was the main project

of our group. Our latest porotype has been designed in such a way that it is free from all the

problems we were facing earlier in our project. First of all the size of the model was designed

in such a way that it will be able to work even with low battery power. Measurements are taken

properly, so that problem related to the function of the robot doesn’t arise. The distance

between the legs is taken with proper measurement so that while moving it won't collide. They

are made with proper spacing and shape so that the tension between the gears won't arise while

moving, otherwise, it will restrict its movement. This project showed us how a simple

mechanism requires detailing in terms of design.

We reach a conclusion that biomechanics can be used in every aspect of life. Moreover, it is

making our work more easy as now we can concentrate on important work. In this modern era,

we can observe biomechanics in every industry whether its medical industry, sports,

manufacturing, toys etc.

We observe that today most of the modern companies are investing in biomechanics sector to

increase their productivity. Moreover, our research shows that biomechanics is really active in

the army and in entertainment sector nowadays. There is a company Boston Dynamics which

is an American engineering and robotics design company that is best known for the

development of Big Dog, a quadruped robot designed for the U.S. military with funding from

Défense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and DI-Guy, software for realistic

human simulation.
Moreover, our model is supporting biomechanics at a very basic level which is very cost

effective and can be used to make toys for children as the material used in our model is very

basic and easily available. This kind of mechanism can be used in demonstrating different types

of animals such as reptiles etc and this can also make a car by just attaching the wheels to its

gears. So this was our observations related to our model.

 5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In performing our assignment, we had to take the help and guideline of some respected persons,

who deserve our greatest gratitude. The completion of this assignment gives us much Pleasure.

We would like to show our gratitude Prof. Gautam Karve, Avantika University for giving

us a good guideline for assignment throughout numerous consultations. We would also like to

expand our deepest gratitude to all those who have directly and indirectly guided us in writing

this assignment.

Many people, especially our classmates and team members itself, have made valuable comment

suggestions on this proposal which gave us the inspiration to improve our assignment. We

thank all the people for their help directly and indirectly to complete our assignment.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomechanical_engineering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXdY0GPRHXo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Dynamics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomechanics