"Digitizing 3-D body movements with wearable systems"

Nan-Wei Gong
Media Lab
Research Affiliate

Abstract: The current standard of capturing and analyzing movement is limited by constraints of a set volume of space. High speed cameras for 3D movement tracking has been a well-understood area of research in biomechanics, sports medicine and science, even human computer interaction. These equipment allows us to study movement in a laboratory setting but not during activities in environments typical of daily living. The market of on body sensor technology is evolving quickly beyond what most consumers are typically familiar with in wrist-worn wearables.  We are at the forefront of this transition. To do form motion analysis, existing platforms rely heavily on a room full of cameras. The vision of wearable computing and ubiquitous sensing is to have a platform that minimizes the technology footprint with a small form factor to track the movement and 3-D contour of the human body, especially outside of the limits of a set lab space. In this talk, the speaker will give an overview of state-of-the-art motion tracking systems, the use cases and a live demonstration of digitizing movements with wearables.