Measurement of human movement under metrological controlled conditions

Abstract

The study and modeling of human movement requires accurate measurement of forces and of kinematic quantities, with proper control and monitoring of measurement uncertainty. The metrological aspects of such experimentation are often overlooked in the biomechanical literature. In contrast, we present here a complete measurement system that combines a double force platform with vision and inertial sensors. Thanks to some degree of instrumental redundancy a cross-validation of different measuring channels is possible. Therefore the system permits the characterization of a person's movement, enabling, at the same time, the verification of the acquired experimental data. Details are provided about the system and about the measurement procedure, in order to allow the reproducibility of the experiment, if needed, in other laboratories. Then, as a test case, the experimental study of hopping is considered. Three male subjects performed the tests on several sessions. Experimental results are discussed, with special focus on kinematic quantities, and system performance is discussed, by properly accounting for uncertainty issues. Copyright: