We are pleased to announce the publication of the article:
"Integrating the behaviour of biological soft tissue into musculoskeletal simulation for the design of wearable assistive devices" in Frontiers In Human Neuroscience by David Scherb and Prof Robert Weidner in collaboration with Prof Sandro Wartzack and Jörg Miehling from KTmfk - Lehrstuhl für Konstruktionstechnik at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg.

🔍What is it about?
Musculoskeletal simulations are frequently used to evaluate wearable assistive devices such as ankle orthoses and exoskeletons. However, one crucial factor is often overlooked: the biological soft tissue at the interface between the human and the device.

💡 The article
They integrated the viscoelastic soft tissue behaviour into a musculoskeletal human model to better represent the real human-device interaction. This enables a more realistic understanding of how assistive devices actually function when worn.

🎯 Why it matters
The results clearly show that neglecting soft tissue behaviour can lead to inaccurate predictions in simulation-based design. The inclusion of these effects is essential for the development of more effective, comfortable and realistic wearable assistive technologies.