Subventions et des contributions :

Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier (2017-2018 à 2018-2019).

From the recent advances in digital computing and the growing importance of automation in our society, thex000D
emerging need for in-depth understanding of physical phenomena that are apparently simple and overlooked inx000D
everyday life is evident. Think, for example, of a robot which task is to pick-and-place a product withoutx000D
breaking it and repeat the operation multiple times at a pace that can satisfy the expected production rate. Eachx000D
simple movement needs to be calibrated and one must predict the effect of it with fine detail. This gives meritx000D
to the creation of a virtual scenario via digital computing in which the user can depict every possiblex000D
consequence of action and chart the optimal path to the best performance. Now let us extend this concept to thex000D
engineering design of manufactured goods that interact with the human body and, in particular, to the case ofx000D
wearable technology. Optimal design of clothes, bandages and other devices, which functionality lies in contactx000D
with human skin, can only be achieved from virtual representation of the physiology of the human body. Inx000D
particular, for this case, one needs to virtually reproduce the physiology of human skin, which can only be donex000D
with previous fundamental understanding of its bio-chemo-mechanical behavior. This is the central interest ofx000D
the proposed research, which focuses on the phenomena of adhesion and friction. It will involve numericalx000D
investigations and in-vivo experimental measurement of the physical properties of skin with particular attentionx000D
to the relation of them with the physical and geometrical properties of the adhering material (stiffness andx000D
surface roughness). Moreover, the investigation will consider the variability of environmental andx000D
physiological conditions such as the level of moisture (sweat) and temperature. These have proven to bex000D
influential in the aforementioned framework since for example skin is commonly stickier when sweating. Thex000D
model will finally contribute to the development of advanced software for the improved design of wearablex000D
technology and for realistic virtual representations of living entities (computer graphics).