TUTORIAL

Measuring human motion: features and pitfalls of various techniques

Jaap Harlaar

(Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Benefits

A selection of established and novel techniques for instrumental recording of human motion behavior will be presented and demonstrated. The tutorial discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the various techniques, their limitations and practical considerations. The main focus is on recording equipment and data collection procedures and associated procedures on data analysis.
Features

Topics will include:

  • Estimation vs. measurement of motion from video
  • Use of marker-based optoelectronic systems (3D)
  • Use of limb based tracking systems (magnetic; inertial; ultrasonic sensors)
  • Pre-processing of acquired data
  • Form of representation of meaningful data
Audience

This tutorial is intended for researchers who want to measure human motion, within a certain motor task. Basic understanding of kinematic modeling as well as general experience in measurements on human motor tasks and signal processing is useful but not required.

Presentation

Lectures and demonstrations, using a variety of data acquisition and analysis systems.

Instructor's resume

Dr. Jaap Harlaar is head of the laboratory of human movement analysis of VU Medical Center and lecturer at the faculty of Human Movement Science. His basic discipline is electrical and software engineering. During his professional career Dr. Harlaar has gained experience in selecting, adapting and developing technologies to suit specific research questions with the clinical context of human movement analysis.

Last updated: 20 October 2005