Movement tracking accuracy of HTC Vive VR System during upper body discrete motion tasks

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Rehabilitation Technology
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Virtual reality (VR) shows promise for improving patient rehabilitation outcomes.
• A lack of validation studies for VR motion capture (MoCAP) accuracy hinders its medical application.
• Accurate human movement tracking is crucial for VR systems used in healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the accuracy of a VR-based MoCAP system against a traditional optoelectronic MoCAP system.
• To assess the VR system's performance during physical therapy-related motion tasks.
• To provide evidence for the reliability of VR MoCAP in medical contexts.

Main Methods:

• Fourteen subjects performed discrete physical therapy motion tasks.
• Motion data was captured simultaneously using HTC Vive Pro hardware and OptiTrack Flex 13 cameras.
• Bland-Altman analysis and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) were used for comparison.

Main Results:

• Bland-Altman analysis indicated strong agreement in range of motion between the two systems.
• RMSE values were generally below 37 mm (X-axis), 43 mm (Y-axis), and 29 mm (Z-axis).
• The HTC Vive Pro system accurately tracked human motions relevant to physical therapy.

Conclusions:

• The HTC Vive Pro VR MoCAP system is accurate for tracking physical therapy movements.
• This study provides a benchmark for assessing VR MoCAP accuracy in medical applications.
• Findings support the integration of validated VR systems into rehabilitation settings.