Grant: Engage Grants Program

Digital human modelling and simulation increasingly guide the decision-making process in many facets of biomedical and industrial research. However, most models are based on the anatomy of a single person, making it unreasonable (perhaps risky) to generalize simulation results to an entire population of interest. The Parametric Human Project is an academic and industrial research consortium that was initiated to create a statistically-based digital atlas and model of the human anatomy, which encapsulates human variation, and can be morphed to represent the anatomy of any specific individual. Success depends on the capture and aggregation of a large amount of human anatomical data from a breadth of individuals. The automation of current bone scanning procedures will improve our ability to capture large collections of skeletons, and thus dramatically increase the amount of data available for generating statistical models of human bones.One key, non-trivial problem related to the high-resolution laser scanning of bone specimens is how to expedite and standardize the capture of high-resolution skeletal data, while preserving the integrity of the often delicate bones. Ultimately, a bone container must be devised that will accommodate bones of different sizes and shapes, and that can be systematically opened and closed to allow the different surfaces of each bone to be scanned. We will leverage machine learning and digital signal processing to minimize the amount of human intervention required to handle (transport, open/close, manipulate) the bone containers during the scanning process. Consequently, the current project will establish bone storage and handling devices that will form integral elements of an automated workflow for reliably and repeatably scanning large collections of bones. The development of a system that enables large-scale digitization will facilitate the creation of a comprehensive statistical atlas of human anatomy, and the long-term digital preservation, archiving, and curation of anthropological artifacts.