Force and motion capture system based on distributed micro-accelerometers, gyros, force and tactile sensing
Francesco NORI (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia)
The iCub (www.icub.org) whole-body force estimation technology is now ready to be transferred to a new application: a wearable simultaneous force and motion capture system. Custom sensors and technologies (e.g. force-torque sensors, tactile suit, electronic boards with integrated gyroscopes and accelerometers) will be developed starting from those currently employed on the iCub (collaboration with the iCub Facility).
The associated technology will enter a growing research & development field that, at present, has relevant applications on entertainment (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows) and human movement digitalization (www.xsens.com/en/general/mvn).
Thanks to its accuracy and multi-modal sensor modalities, the new technology will be applied to new fields including ergonomic, clinical diagnosis and rehabilitation. These sensors will allow to access fine information about “how” a movement is performed in terms of which muscles are being used rather than just “which” movement is performed. Furthermore a challenging research direction should be the real-time fatigue monitoring by using sEMG information. Results will be demonstrated and validated by developing a prototype of a wearable force and motion tracking system.
