UPPER LIMB 3D MOTION CAPTURE BASED ON INERTIAL SENSORS

his paper presents the design and implementation of a real-time system for 3D upper limb motion capture using inertial sensors modules. Each inertial module consists of a tri-axial accelerometer, a tri-axial gyroscope and a tri-axial magnetometer, coupled to an upper body segment (torso, arm and forearm). To get around with the limitations founded in rotations using euler angles and matrices of rotations the proposed system works with the principles of quaternions. To validate the system a sequence of tests were performed to measure angles using one and two sensors and compare the results with a reference protractor. A set of experimental tests tracking full arm motion were performed and the results show the validity and feasibility of the system from a practical point of view.