Wearable IMMU-Based Relative Position Estimation between Body Segments via Time-Varying Segment-to-Joint Vectors

In biomechanics, estimating the relative position between two body segments using inertial and magnetic measurement units (IMMUs) is important in that it enables the capture of human motion in unconstrained environments. The relative position can be estimated using the segment orientation and segment-to-joint center (S2J) vectors where the S2J vectors are predetermined as constants under the assumption of rigid body segments. However, human body segments are not rigid bodies because they are easily affected by soft tissue artifacts (STAs). Therefore, the use of the constant S2J vectors is one of the most critical factors for the inaccurate estimation of relative position. To deal with this issue, this paper proposes a method of determining time-varying S2J vectors to reflect the deformation of the S2J vectors and thus to increase the estimation accuracy, in IMMU-based relative position estimation. For the proposed method, first, reference S2J vectors for learning needed to be collected. A regression method derived a function outputting S2J vectors based on specific physical quantities that were highly correlated with the deformation of S2J vectors. Subsequently, time-varying S2J vectors were determined from the derived function. The validation results showed that, in terms of the averaged root mean squared errors of four tests performed by three subjects, the proposed method (15.08 mm) provided a higher estimation accuracy than the conventional method using constant vectors (31.32 mm). This indicates the proposed method may effectively compensate for the effects of STAs and ultimately estimate more accurate relative positions. By providing STA-compensated relative positions between segments, the proposed method applied in a wearable motion tracking system can be useful in rehabilitation or sports sciences.