AnyScript – a musculoskeletal modelling community
AnyScript is the name of a modelling language and also the name of a very active musculoskeletal modelling community with a home at www.anyscript.org. The modelling language is developed particularly for multibody musculoskeletal modelling and it shares much of its syntax with widespread languages like C++, C#, Java or, perhaps most of all, Javascript. In other words it is an object-oriented language in which every element of the model, for instance a segment or a muscle, is a self-contained unit with possible references to other objects, i.e. muscles insert on bones.
This type of language turns out to be most suitable for musculoskeletal modelling and the AnyScript community therefore develops some of the most advanced musculoskeletal applications found anywhere. The community homepage is set up and managed by the company behind the AnyBody Modeling System, into which the models can be loaded and analysed, but the community is free to join for anyone interested in the subject. It contains a forum in which modellers can discuss model development issues, a wiki where users can create their own contents about models, a repository of existing models for various purposes, and also an advanced sourceforge system supporting collaboration between different people and groups on joint model development projects.
The image above shows a typical example of an application, namely the analysis of a mounting operation in an automobile assembly line. It is typical in the sense that it contains a detailed musculoskeletal model of the body imported from the model repository and an application-specific environment developed by the user and imported from a CAD system.