Abstract
Soft robotic sensors, a class of pliable, embeddable sensors, are well-suited for applications in wearable technology because of their ease of integration with common clothing articles. The suitability of soft robotic sensors for estimation of human joint angles has been proven; this research represents another step towards development of a reliable laboratory data collection platform for the human ankle joint complex. In this research, the accuracy and repeatability of a newly-developed wearable prototype are evaluated as a potential replacement for camera-based motion capture by measuring differences between simultaneously collected motion capture and stretch sensor data. The accuracy of these measurements is compared to measurements collected using a previous prototype for validation. Results show that the newly-developed prototype is capable of joint angle estimation within 1.86° mean-absolute-error during complex, dynamic movements and that wearing shoes over the sock prototype does not significantly degrade performance.
Highlights
Human motion capture and analysis is typically performed using an expensive system of digital cameras and reflective markers in a laboratory setting
MATERIALS AND METHODS This research uses the same methods of validation as Parts II and IV of the "Closing the Wearable Gap" publication series [3], [4] so that the prototype being validated in this work can be compared directly to the prototype discussed in those papers
It was discovered that these poor results were caused by invalid tracking from the motion capture system; values were reported which were physically impossible for the human ankle without sustaining serious injury
Summary
Human motion capture and analysis is typically performed using an expensive system of digital cameras and reflective markers in a laboratory setting. Low-cost wearable electronic sensors have worked toward moving motion analysis out of the lab and into the field [2]. The primary goal of developing this prototype is to build a portable system "from the ground up" that can estimate ankle joint angles within a reasonable degree of accuracy to facilitate higher-level analyses of gait, athletic movements, etc. The human ankle joint can be modeled with two planar angles: sagittal (Figure 1) and frontal (Figure 2) angle [5] Within these two planes, four basic movements can be made: plantarflexion (PFX), dorsiflexion (DFX), inversion (INV), and eversion (EVR) [5].
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