Our mission is to understand human movement by developing advanced computational models. The lab is directed by Prof. Dinesh K. Pai,  UBC’s Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Sensorimotor Computation. The lab’s research is multi-disciplinary and spans computer graphics, scientific computing, computational mechanics, robotics, biomechanics, and the neural control of movement. We believe in building working hardware and software systems based on strong theoretical foundations. These systems also serve to translate our basic research into useful innovations that impact society.

Our alumni now hold faculty positions at some of the best universities in the world, including Stanford, Toronto, and McGill. Many are in leadership positions in industry. Our research has been generously funded by NSERC, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, CIHR, NSF, NIH, and the international Human Frontier Science Program. Our software has impacted many different industries, and was used for special effects in the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. We spun off Vital Mechanics Research to translate some of our research into real-world applications.