Archive for the ‘Virtual’ tag
Only for Dummies
Obsolete?
You see the car commercials. Short clips of dummies getting whiplash. Air bags expanding in slow motion. The message is always the same. “Our vehicles have been tested and proven to be safe.” But how do you really know that those plastic and steel doppelgangers are accurate representations of their organic counterparts?
Welcome to virtual crash-test dummies. A group of engineers at the University of Virginia’s Center for Biomechanics have joined together to create virtual test dummies modeled inch-for-inch after a human body to help simulate car accidents. While they might not be as flashy as crumpled cars and flying shards of glass, these virtual test dummies may represent a breakthrough in accident simulations. No detail of the human body is left unaccounted as this team of engineers is going to model many of the major organs in the body including the heart, lungs, and liver.
Richard Kent, one of the team leaders at the University of Virginia, had this to say:
“We are creating models, based on the actual anatomic details of the human body, that will respond to stress and strain and impact in the same way the actual human body does, so we can see precisely how injuries occur,” Kent said. “The ultimate result will be cars with far better safety systems, minimizing the severity of injuries and the frequency of fatalities.”
What I find most intriguing about this project is how it has the potential of revolutionizing safety. With this technology, researchers will be able to have a panoramic view of how a neck breaks or a bone is shattered. We can correct possible safety hazards within vehicles and bring safety regulations to an unprecedented high standard. Automotive developers will be able to run millions of simulations without spending millions of dollars in supplies. Accident investigators will be able to recreate an entire accident scene without needing to make too many guesses on how the crash transpired. And these are just a few of the implications on how test dummies will affect the automotive industry. Think of how NASA, Six Flags, or the military could use these virtual dummies in their work. Not to mention how this might pave the way to model all things virtually: bridges, buildings, elevators, etc. And all this with the ability to run millions of simulations with just the click of a button.