Simultaneous Floating-Base Estimation of Human Kinematics and Joint Torques

Sensors (Basel). 2019 Jun 21;19(12):2794. doi: 10.3390/s19122794.

Abstract

The paper presents a stochastic methodology for the simultaneous floating-base estimation of the human whole-body kinematics and dynamics (i.e., joint torques, internal and external forces). The paper builds upon our former work where a fixed-base formulation had been developed for the human estimation problem. The presented approach is validated by presenting experimental results of a health subject equipped with a wearable motion tracking system and a pair of shoes sensorized with force/torque sensors while performing different motion tasks, e.g., walking on a treadmill. The results show that joint torque estimates obtained by using floating-base and fixed-base approaches match satisfactorily, thus validating the present approach.

Keywords: floating-base dynamics estimation; human joint torque analysis; human wearable dynamics.

MeSH terms

  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Humans
  • Joints / physiology*
  • Models, Biological*
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Monitoring, Physiologic / methods*
  • Motion
  • Shoes
  • Torque
  • Walking / physiology*
  • Wearable Electronic Devices