What can robots teach us about human movement ?

This final lesson will describe computational models of the complex interplay between neurons, muscles, bones, sensory sensors and other tissues involved in human movement. Combining recent developments in multisensory computer simulation, new measurement techniques and insights gained from robotics described in previous lessons, it will show how detailed models of the human sensory-motor system and its interactions with the physical world can be built, and describe the first steps in this quantitative approach, focusing on two areas of current research: eye movement control and hand manipulation. These computational models hold the promise not only of a deeper understanding of how the brain controls movement, but also of new applications in the healthcare field.