A Transferable Lidar-Based Method to Conduct Contactless Assessments of Gait Parameters in Diverse Home-like...

Gait abnormalities in older adults are linked to increased risks of falls, institutionalization, and mortality, necessitating accurate and frequent gait assessments beyond traditional clinical settings. Current methods, such as pressure-sensitive walkways, often lack the continuous natural environment monitoring needed to understand an individual's gait fully during their daily activities. To address this gap, we present a Lidar-based method capable of unobtrusively and continuously tracking human leg movements in diverse home-like environments, aiming to match the accuracy of a clinical reference measurement system. We developed a calibration-free step extraction algorithm based on mathematical morphology to realize Lidar-based gait analysis. Clinical gait parameters of 45 healthy individuals were measured using Lidar and reference systems (a pressure-sensitive walkway and a video recording system). Each participant participated in three predefined ambulation experiments by walking over the walkway. We observed linear relationships with strong positive correlations (R2>0.9) between the values of the gait parameters (step and stride length, step and stride time, cadence, and velocity) measured with the Lidar sensors and the pressure-sensitive walkway reference system. Moreover, the lower and upper 95% confidence intervals of all gait parameters were tight. The proposed algorithm can accurately derive gait parameters from Lidar data captured in home-like environments, with a performance not significantly less accurate than clinical reference systems.