Upcoming Seminar: “Toward digital motor clones-predictive neuromechanical simulation of human locomotion” Presented by: Seungmoon Song

Speaker: Assistant Professor Seungmoon Song
Affiliation: Northeastern University

ABSTRACT: This seminar will provide an overview and outlook of our research on neuromechanical
simulations of human locomotion. Our long term goal is to develop digital motor clones that predict
how individuals move in novel scenarios, with significant implications for studying human
physiology, testing assistive devices, and controlling robotic systems. We proposed a reflex-based
control model that generates diverse human-like locomotion using a musculoskeletal model in
physics simulations. The model has been extended to explain elderly gait, predict the performance
of gait assistive ankle exoskeletons, and control robotic systems. I will discuss how we plan to
customize these simulations to predict and explain assisted gaits of individuals, and develop
versatile motor control models using deep reinforcement learning to cover atypical locomotion
behaviors.

BIO: Seungmoon Song is an assistant professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at
Northeastern University. He directs the Neuromechanics of Movement Laboratory (NeuMove) where
his team conduct research on modeling the biomechanics and motor control of human movement for
improved physical performance and rehabilitation. Prof Song received his B. E. with summa cum
laude in Electrical and Communications Engineering in 2008 from KAIST (ICU) in South Korea. He
received his M. S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2010 from Virginia Tech, where he
developed walking controllers for humanoid robots. He received his Ph. D. in Robotics in 2017 from
Carnegie Mellon University and won the Presidential Fellowship for his research on computational
neuromechanical models of human locomotion. As a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, he
conducted research on human-in-the-loop optimization frameworks for gait assistive exoskeletons,
organized the NeurIPS 2019: Learn to Move competition, and received the NIH Pathway to
Independence Award (K99/R00).

2023-03-01 Seungmoon Song

Date/Time:
Date(s) - Mar 02, 2023
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Location:
38-138 Engineering IV
420 Westwood Plaza Los Angeles CA 90095