Workshops

This interactive workshop is designed for biomechanics educators who wish to deepen their understanding of artificial intelligence (AI), enhance their AI literacy, and apply its capabilities in their classrooms. Building on the success of the 2024 ASB Tutorial “AI in the Classroom: An Unseen Force,” this session will explore how faculty can use AI more efficiently to improve their teaching practices and promote AI literacy among students to enhance learning outcomes. The current academic landscape is one of shrinking resources. How can we use AI to fill some of these resource gaps?

The workshop will include a focus on developing faculty AI literacy, integrating AI into teaching for better student engagement, and addressing ethical implications. Participants will engage in small-group exercises to create AI-enhanced course content and reflect on ethical challenges, ensuring AI is used responsibly in their teaching practices.

Who Is This For:
This workshop is designed for students, early-career researchers, and anyone looking to feel more comfortable and confident networking at ASB.

Workshop Overview:
Networking can often feel awkward and intimidating – the idea of striking up conversations with strangers can be nerve-wracking. But it doesn’t have to feel like a chore! At its core, networking is about building genuine connections that benefit everyone involved. ASB is an ideal place to form these connections, and this workshop will help participants approach networking in a way that feels natural, effective, and aligned with their strengths.

What We’ll Discuss:
By the end of this workshop, participants will take away…
1. A new perspective on networking as a way to build meaningful, collaborative relationships.
2. Strategies that align with different personalities and social comfort levels.
3. A polished, authentic elevator pitch that participants can use to introduce themselves.
4. A head start on creating their own network at ASB 2025.

Workshop Agenda:
1. Rethinking networking: We will address common misconceptions and reframe networking as an opportunity to align with personal goals and values.
2. Personalize networking: Each person will learn to develop their preferred networking style and approach networking in a way that plays to individual strengths.
3. Crafting an elevator pitch: Participants will develop engaging, efficient introductions, which can be used throughout the meeting.
4. Speed networking: Networking is all about practice! Participants will hone their skills in a low-pressure environment while actively building connections.
5. Panel discussion: ASB and industry leaders will share their experiences and advice on best practices for networking.

Results & Outcomes:
• Education on the implementation of SlicerAutoscoper^M with BVR datasets
• Resources for joining the SlicerAutoscoper^M discourse community and contributing to product
development through issue submissions

Learning Outcome Levels:
• Use of SlicerAutoscoper^M with sample datasets
• Understanding the advantages and challenges of an open-source approach to arthrokinematics.
• Introduction to 3D Slicer

Audience Involvement:
• Open Discussion for current use, improvements, and future options
• Hands-on use of SlicerAutoscoper^M

The federal government funds biomechanics research. There are numerous available funding opportunities across multiple agencies. This workshop will include representatives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC). They will present information on research programs and initiatives, and training and career development opportunities. Focus areas will include examples of research that fits in each agency and expectations of applicants.

Federal representatives attend conferences like ASB to meet with attendees, answer questions, disseminate funding opportunities, and learn about cutting-edge science. Some federal representatives may be able to facilitate new collaborations by connecting people performing similar research or addressing related research questions using a different strategy. Attendees will have opportunities during the workshop and the conference to reach out to these individuals with questions or for additional information.

After short presentations by designated agency speakers, there will be an open panel discussion and Q&A, followed by table discussions with panelists. Contact information will be provided. This workshop is appropriate for researchers of all career stages. Presentations will be geared toward early career researchers, while the open panel discussion may be helpful for all investigators. Participants will gain basic understanding of the federal funding application and review processes, as well as similarities and differences between the respective funding agencies. Speakers will bring unique perspectives on how and where to apply for funding.

Accurate and reliable digital twins of humans and wearable robots can revolutionize assistive robotics. This tutorial will provide an introduction and hands-on examples of MyoAssist, an open-source, reinforcement learning (RL)-friendly neuromechanical simulation platform designed to advance the development of assistive robots. MyoAssist is part of MyoSuite, a broader open-source collection of musculoskeletal environments and tasks built in the MuJoCo physics simulator and wrapped in an RL-friendly interface using the OpenAI Gym API. MyoAssist integrates forward neuromechanical simulations of musculoskeletal models with assistive devices (e.g., exoskeletons or robotic prosthetics) and RL tools, offering unique capabilities compared to traditional approaches in the biomechanics community, such as reference motion tracking or trajectory optimization (e.g., OpenSim Moco). This tutorial will provide biomechanics researchers with the opportunity to explore neuromechanical simulations, assistive devices, and RL. Participants will acquire practical skills in setting up models, working with MyoAssist environments, and running RL-based simulations, including an amputated musculoskeletal model walking with a robotic prosthetic leg using imitation learning.

Women and gender-diverse individuals have historically been underrepresented in biomechanics. Despite their significant contributions, their online presence remains limited, perpetuating disparities in recognition. Wikipedia is one of the world’s most-visited websites, yet women account for under 20% of its 2 million bios. This gender bias means the contributions of women and gender-diverse people are less likely to be discovered. Wikipedia Edit-a-thons are part of a global movement to address this and ensure their achievements are visible and acknowledged!

This workshop is highly relevant to biomechanics, underscoring the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion in shaping the field’s future. By recognizing and celebrating the achievements of diverse contributors, we foster a more inclusive scientific community. We want the next generation to imagine a future in biomechanics and the online visibility of gender diversity in biomechanics is key. Edit-a-thons offer a fun and interactive way to learn new skills and network while helping boost the online visibility of women and gender diverse people in biomechanics.

This event complements a previous workshop at ANZSB 2024 and an upcoming workshop at ISB 2025, furthering global efforts to amplify the presence of underrepresented individuals in biomechanics. At ANZSB 2024, there were 6 new Wikipedia pages created, 30 pages edited, and 111 total edits under the Women in Biomechanics theme. The workshop will appeal to a broad audience of ASB members as it combines technical skill development with community-building efforts to promote representation, and requires no prior wiki-editing experience. Attendees will leave empowered to continue these efforts beyond the workshop, amplifying visibility and equity in biomechanics.

From free fall to celestial motion, the search for patterns in data has led to the discovery of natural physical laws. Johannes Kepler discovered the third law of planetary motion by identifying and symbolically representing patterns, providing insights that revolutionized astrophysics. Likewise, uncovering hidden patterns in complex biomechanical data is key to advancing our understanding of human motion. Historically, a broad array of tools has been used to model the complex relationships in human movement data, but many lack interpretability and lack meaningful physical constraints. Symbolic Regression (SR) addresses those limitations by discovering interpretable mathematical expressions that adhere to physical constraints, offering researchers insights that might otherwise remain hidden. This interactive workshop introduces SR (along with its theoretical and practical underpinnings), to provide attendees with a transformative approach to biomechanical modeling. Through a combination of lectures and interactive activities, attendees will learn the theory behind genetic programming, which is the algorithmic backbone of SR. The presenters will also discuss the specific application of genetic programming in SR. Later workshop sections will provide hands-on experience using Python-based software to perform SR on workshop-provided datasets, with the option to analyze their own data for personalized insights. The workshop will also address best practices for integrating SR into biomechanics. College level algebra and basic Python proficiency are recommended but not required. We aim to accommodate researchers, clinicians, and students of all levels, providing an accessible yet rigorous introduction to a cutting-edge modeling method in human movement science.