IMU Driven OpenSim: Markerless MoCap Comparison

There have been some exciting breakthroughs in collecting kinematic data in the last few years. Two of the techniques I'm most excited about include markerless motion capture and IMU driven inverse kinematics. This video demonstrates collecting a motion with both of these techniques. Markerless motion capture was accomplished by using 4 iPhone 7s on tripods, video editing software to synchronize the videos, and software we are trialing from the South West Research Institute. This software directly outputs a scaled OpenSim model (powerful open-source musculoskeletal modeling software). We collected IMU data using Vicon Blue Trident IMUs. These IMUs fuse sensor data to output synchronized orientation data. We processed the orientation data through OpenSim using custom MATLAB scripts (check out my webinar on this process). Both techniques may offer advantages over more traditional techniques, and provide greater access to biomechanical data outside a lab. Please reach out to me, or Samuel Masters (the subject of this video) if you'd like to learn more about in-the-wild data techniques or how you can leverage them.