9704694 Hodgins, Jessica K. Georgia Institute of Technology CISE Postdoctoral Research Associates in Experimental CS: Parallel Search Algorithms for Automating the Animation of Human Motion (This award supports CES associate Nancy Pollard.) Realistic simulation of human motion remains an elusive goal. Although recent systems have demonstrated dynamic tasks such as running, cycling, diving, and vaulting, one specific flaw in most current systems is that they cannot automatically adapt to changes in the simulated scenario. The goal of this work is to develop efficient parallel algorithms for adapting biomechanical simulations of human motion to changes in task conditions and to changes in the size and proportions of a moving character. This research will develop scaling laws and search procedures to automate adaptation of simulations to a range of situations. The search techniques will be computationally intensive due to the complexity of modeling and simulating human motion. As one means of addressing this complexity, parallel search algorithms will be implemented and tested on different hardware configurations to gain insight into the effectiveness of various architectures for creating realistic simulations. This research should contribute necessary data for the development of low-cost parallel architectures that will make sophisticated human simulation capabilities widely available to animators and researchers in fields ranging from biomechanics and ergonomics to education and entertainment.
