Musculoskeletal multibody models are increasingly used to analyze and optimize physical interactions between humans and technical artifacts. Since interaction is conveyed by contact between the human body and the artifact, a computationally robust modeling approach for frictional contact forces is a crucial aspect. In this contribution, we propose a parametric contact model and formulate an associated force optimization problem to simultaneously estimate unknown muscle and contact forces in an inverse dynamic manner from a prescribed motion trajectory. Unlike existing work, we consider both the static and the kinetic regime of Coulomb's friction law. The approach is applied to the analysis of a leg extension training machine with the objective to reduce the stress on the tibiofemoral joint. The uncertainty of the simulation results due to a tunable parameter of the contact model is of particular interest.
Keywords: Musculoskeletal simulation; contact modeling; device design; optimization.