Gait analysis using floor markers and inertial sensors

Abstract

In this paper, a gait analysis system which estimates step length and foot angles is proposed. A measurement unit, which consists of a camera and inertial sensors, is installed on a shoe. When the foot touches the floor, markers are recognized by the camera to obtain the current position and attitude. A simple planar marker with 4,096 different codes is used. These markers printed on paper are placed on the floor. When the foot is moving off the floor, the position and attitude are estimated using an inertial navigation algorithm. For accurate estimation, a smoother is proposed, where vision information and inertial sensor data are combined. Through experiments, it is shown that the proposed system can both track foot motion and estimate step length. © 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.