Use of inertial measurement units for measuring torso and pelvis orientation, and shoulder–pelvis separation angle in the discus throw

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 985-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara M Brice ◽  
Matthew Hurley ◽  
Elissa J Phillips

Wearable technologies, such as inertial measurement units, are being increasingly utilised in sport to provide immediate feedback to athletes and coaches on movement dynamics. This study examines the validity of inertial measurement units for measuring data pertinent to discus throwing namely shoulder–pelvis separation angle, and torso and pelvis transverse plane orientation. Five discus throwers performed 10 throws, while shoulder–pelvis separation angle, and torso and pelvis transverse plane orientation were measured simultaneously using a motion capture system and inertial measurement unit system. Time-series torso and pelvis orientation data were compared to determine the validity of the inertial measurement unit system for measuring the segment orientation. Discrete shoulder–pelvis separation angle data were compared to determine the validity of the inertial measurement unit system for measuring the discrete data pertinent to discus throwers and coaches. Discrete data examined were magnitudes of separation that occurred when the torso was maximally rotated to the left and right. Data were compared using root mean square difference and root mean square relative to angle range (RMS%). Bland–Altman analyses were also performed. Torso (RMS% = 3%) and pelvis (RMS% = 2%) orientation data agreed closely. Agreement was lower for separation angle (maximum left rotation RMS% = 9%; maximum right rotation RMS% = 13%). Bland–Altman biases indicate inertial measurement units underestimated segment orientation, underestimated maximum right rotation, and overestimated maximum left rotation. The protocol described was valid for measuring the torso and pelvis orientation. Separation angle validity was low, indicating differences in underlying modelling approaches. Further investigation is needed to examine more optimal sensor positioning, and novel ways of examining shoulder–pelvis dynamics.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1804
Author(s):  
Jorge Posada-Ordax ◽  
Julia Cosin-Matamoros ◽  
Marta Elena Losa-Iglesias ◽  
Ricardo Becerro-de-Bengoa-Vallejo ◽  
Laura Esteban-Gonzalo ◽  
...  

In recent years, interest in finding alternatives for the evaluation of mobility has increased. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) stand out for their portability, size, and low price. The objective of this study was to examine the accuracy and repeatability of a commercially available IMU under controlled conditions in healthy subjects. A total of 36 subjects, including 17 males and 19 females were analyzed with a Wiva Science IMU in a corridor test while walking for 10 m and in a threadmill at 1.6 km/h, 2.4 km/h, 3.2 km/h, 4 km/h, and 4.8 km/h for one minute. We found no difference when we compared the variables at 4 km/h and 4.8 km/h. However, we found greater differences and errors at 1.6 km/h, 2.4 km/h and 3.2 km/h, and the latter one (1.6 km/h) generated more error. The main conclusion is that the Wiva Science IMU is reliable at high speeds but loses reliability at low speeds.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 2983
Author(s):  
Marie Sapone ◽  
Pauline Martin ◽  
Khalil Ben Mansour ◽  
Henry Château ◽  
Frédéric Marin

The development of on-board sensors, such as inertial measurement units (IMU), has made it possible to develop new methods for analyzing horse locomotion to detect lameness. The detection of spatiotemporal events is one of the keystones in the analysis of horse locomotion. This study assesses the performance of four methods for detecting Foot on and Foot off events. They were developed from an IMU positioned on the canon bone of eight horses during trotting recording on a treadmill and compared to a standard gold method based on motion capture. These methods are based on accelerometer and gyroscope data and use either thresholding or wavelets to detect stride events. The two methods developed from gyroscopic data showed more precision than those developed from accelerometric data with a bias less than 0.6% of stride duration for Foot on and 0.1% of stride duration for Foot off. The gyroscope is less impacted by the different patterns of strides, specific to each horse. To conclude, methods using the gyroscope present the potential of further developments to investigate the effects of different gait paces and ground types in the analysis of horse locomotion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 662 ◽  
pp. 717-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Yu Zheng ◽  
Yan Bin Gao ◽  
Kun Peng He

As an inertial sensors assembly, the FOG inertial measurement unit (FIMU) must be calibrated before being used. The paper presents a one-time systematic IMU calibration method only using two-axis low precision turntable. First, the detail error model of inertial sensors using defined body frame is established. Then, only velocity taken as observation, system 33 state equation is established including the lever arm effects and nonlinear terms of scale factor error. The turntable experiments verify that the method can identify all the error coefficients of FIMU on low-precision two-axis turntable, after calibration the accuracy of navigation is improved.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (23) ◽  
pp. 5283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianmarco Baldini ◽  
Filip Geib ◽  
Raimondo Giuliani

The concept of Continuous Authentication is to authenticate an entity on the basis of a digital output generated in a continuous way by the entity itself. This concept has recently been applied in the literature for the continuous authentication of persons on the basis of intrinsic features extracted from the analysis of the digital output generated by wearable sensors worn by the subjects during their daily routine. This paper investigates the application of this concept to the continuous authentication of automotive vehicles, which is a novel concept in the literature and which could be used where conventional solutions based on cryptographic means could not be used. In this case, the Continuous Authentication concept is implemented using the digital output from Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) mounted on the vehicle, while it is driving on a specific road path. Different analytical approaches based on the extraction of statistical features from the time domain representation or the use of frequency domain coefficients are compared and the results are presented for various conditions and road segments. The results show that it is possible to authenticate vehicles from the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) recordings with great accuracy for different road segments.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5623
Author(s):  
Gabriella Fischer ◽  
Michael Alexander Wirth ◽  
Simone Balocco ◽  
Maurizio Calcagni

Background: This study investigates the dart-throwing motion (DTM) by comparing an inertial measurement unit-based system previously validated for basic motion tasks with an optoelectronic motion capture system. The DTM is interesting as wrist movement during many activities of daily living occur in this movement plane, but the complex movement is difficult to assess clinically. Methods: Ten healthy subjects were recorded while performing the DTM with their right wrist using inertial sensors and skin markers. Maximum range of motion obtained by the different systems and the mean absolute difference were calculated. Results: In the flexion–extension plane, both systems calculated a range of motion of 100° with mean absolute differences of 8°, while in the radial–ulnar deviation plane, a mean absolute difference of 17° and range of motion values of 48° for the optoelectronic system and 59° for the inertial measurement units were found. Conclusions: This study shows the challenge of comparing results of different kinematic motion capture systems for complex movements while also highlighting inertial measurement units as promising for future clinical application in dynamic and coupled wrist movements. Possible sources of error and solutions are discussed.


Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 2846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun-mei Dong ◽  
Shun-qing Ren ◽  
Xi-jun Chen ◽  
Zhen-huan Wang

Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) calibration accuracy is easily affected by turntable errors, so the primary aim of this study is to reduce the dependence on the turntable’s precision during the calibration process. Firstly, the indicated-output of the IMU considering turntable errors is constructed and with the introduction of turntable errors, the functional relationship between turntable errors and the indicated-output was derived. Then, based on a D-suboptimal design, a calibration method for simultaneously identifying the IMU error model parameters and the turntable errors was proposed. Simulation results showed that some turntable errors could thus be effectively calibrated and automatically compensated. Finally, the theoretical validity was verified through experiments. Compared with the traditional method, the method proposed in this paper can significantly reduce the influence of the turntable errors on the IMU calibration accuracy.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (16) ◽  
pp. 4486
Author(s):  
Jeremy Cole ◽  
Alper Bozkurt ◽  
Edgar Lobaton

Disaster robotics is a growing field that is concerned with the design and development of robots for disaster response and disaster recovery. These robots assist first responders by performing tasks that are impractical or impossible for humans. Unfortunately, current disaster robots usually lack the maneuverability to efficiently traverse these areas, which often necessitate extreme navigational capabilities, such as centimeter-scale clearance. Recent work has shown that it is possible to control the locomotion of insects such as the Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) through bioelectrical stimulation of their neuro-mechanical system. This provides access to a novel agent that can traverse areas that are inaccessible to traditional robots. In this paper, we present a data-driven inertial navigation system that is capable of localizing cockroaches in areas where GPS is not available. We pose the navigation problem as a two-point boundary-value problem where the goal is to reconstruct a cockroach’s trajectory between the starting and ending states, which are assumed to be known. We validated our technique using nine trials that were conducted in a circular arena using a biobotic agent equipped with a thorax-mounted, low-cost inertial measurement unit. Results show that we can achieve centimeter-level accuracy. This is accomplished by estimating the cockroach’s velocity—using regression models that have been trained to estimate the speed and heading from the inertial signals themselves—and solving an optimization problem so that the boundary-value constraints are satisfied.


2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 619-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludovic Seifert ◽  
Dominic Orth ◽  
Jérémie Boulanger ◽  
Vladislavs Dovgalecs ◽  
Romain Hérault ◽  
...  

This study investigated a new performance indicator to assess climbing fluency (smoothness of the hip trajectory and orientation of a climber using normalized jerk coefficients) to explore effects of practice and hold design on performance. Eight experienced climbers completed four repetitions of two, 10-m high routes with similar difficulty levels, but varying in hold graspability (holds with one edge vs holds with two edges). An inertial measurement unit was attached to the hips of each climber to collect 3D acceleration and 3D orientation data to compute jerk coefficients. Results showed high correlations (r= .99,P< .05) between the normalized jerk coefficient of hip trajectory and orientation. Results showed higher normalized jerk coefficients for the route with two graspable edges, perhaps due to more complex route finding and action regulation behaviors. This effect decreased with practice. Jerk coefficient of hip trajectory and orientation could be a useful indicator of climbing fluency for coaches as its computation takes into account both spatial and temporal parameters (ie, changes in both climbing trajectory and time to travel this trajectory).


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