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Ƶ and LETI launched a networked master's degree program in biomechanics, grasping systems and motion modeling
07 October

Ƶ and SPbSETU "LETI" will train specialists capable of developing and applying motion capture and modeling systems for in-demand areas of medicine - prosthetics, gait analysis and rehabilitation, as well as orthopedic footwear design and human walking pattern research.

In 2023/24 academic year the network master's program "Motion Capture and Modeling Systems - Biomechanical Analysis of Human Motion in Footwear Design" organized by Ƶ and SPbSETU "LETI" was launched. The new program is being mastered by 25 students.

The University of Industrial Technologies and Design (Ƶ) has opened the Laboratory of Scientific Biomechanics of Motion for this purpose. It is equipped with a 3D foot scanner, a system of nine optical infrared cameras, dynamometer platforms and an electromyography complex. The data obtained in the laboratory allows the selection of individual footwear and shoes for rehabilitation. Together with specialists from medical clinics, studies of the biomechanics of walking in patients with cerebral palsy and osteogenesis imperfecta are conducted here. The master's program will help train new generation orthopedists and specialists in rehabilitation and physiotherapy, shoe developers and designers, and researchers in the biomechanics of human movement.

"At Ƶ, scientists of the Laboratory of Biomechanics of Movement are engaged in the problems of ergonomics evaluation and design of footwear structures and corrective devices. The network master's program is aimed at training specialists who are able to form new criteria and standards for shoe structures, lasts, soles, based on the knowledge of biomechanics, using the most advanced technologies of marker video analysis, strain gauge platforms, wireless electromyography complex, etc. The network format allows us to conduct joint research with LETI specialists, involve orthopedists and rehabilitation specialists in joint work. Interaction with colleagues opens up new opportunities for training specialists in a new industry that has emerged at the intersection of modern technologies, medicine and footwear design. Graduates of the program will receive tools for creating rehabilitation footwear, will be able to solve the problems of evaluation and correction of prosthetic products, orthopedic insoles, to develop highly specialized footwear, for example, for athletes and design safe and ergonomic children's and adult footwear," - comments the head of the Department of Design and Technology of leather goods named after Prof. A. S. Shvarts Ƶ Sergey Shcherbakov.

The research laboratory "Motion Capture and Simulation Systems", whose research team specializes in prosthetics, gait analysis and rehabilitation, has become the base for training and development at LETI SPbETU. The laboratory was created in the R&D zone of LETI Science Park. It is equipped with high-speed infrared cameras to record kinematics, dynamometer platforms to record support reaction forces, and myography systems with inertial sensors to record muscle electrical activity.

"As part of the network master's program "Motion Capture and Simulation Systems" we are training specialists for a new industry that is just starting to develop in Russia. Its graduates will be able to engage in testing and development of prostheses, evaluation of the musculoskeletal system, as well as conduct research on various orthopedic products and work on modeling the musculoskeletal system, exoskeletons. I am sure that the collaboration between LETI and Ƶ, where the design and modeling of orthopedic footwear is being developed, as well as the involvement of medical professionals, will contribute to the staffing of this new industry at the intersection of medicine and technology," said Alexander Boronakhin, Dean of the Faculty of Information-Measuring and Biotechnical Systems of SPbSETU "LETI" and Head of the Master's program. Teachers from LETI read the course "Motion Capture and Analysis Systems" for the students of SPbSETU "LETI", and specialists from SPbSETU "LETI" teach the discipline "Motion Modeling in Virtual Environment" for the students of LETI.

The network program is implemented with the involvement of leading specialists from technical universities of the city, for example, VOENMEKh - in terms of designing exoskeleton structures, and medical organizations - G. A. Ilizarov NMRC (Kurgan) and Ivanovo State Medical Academy within the framework of strategic projects of SPbETU LETI and Ƶ of the Priority 2030 program of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.