HERMES: UMTRI's Own Human Finite-Element Model

The IRCOBI conference in Porto marked our first public presentation of the new Hermes™ finite-element human body model developed in our group. Led by Dr. Jingwen Hu, a large team has been working for over a decade to develop a rigorous research foundation for a fully parametric, efficient FE model for population-based optimization of safety systems. Conventional FE human body models are too complex and hence too slow to use for large-scale optimizations, but Hermes runs approximately 4x as fast as the "fast" models currently in use. We achieve this by using a carefully constructed mesh designed from the start to be morphable to nearly any adult body size and shap. An interactive representation of the Hermes™ geometry is now available online. A downloadable version will be available soon.