An Open-Source Platform for Human Pose Estimation and Tracking Using a Heterogeneous Multi-Sensor System

Sensors (Basel). 2021 Mar 27;21(7):2340. doi: 10.3390/s21072340.

Abstract

Human pose estimation and tracking in real-time from multi-sensor systems is essential for many applications. Combining multiple heterogeneous sensors increases opportunities to improve human motion tracking. Using only a single sensor type, e.g., inertial sensors, human pose estimation accuracy is affected by sensor drift over longer periods. This paper proposes a human motion tracking system using lidar and inertial sensors to estimate 3D human pose in real-time. Human motion tracking includes human detection and estimation of height, skeletal parameters, position, and orientation by fusing lidar and inertial sensor data. Finally, the estimated data are reconstructed on a virtual 3D avatar. The proposed human pose tracking system was developed using open-source platform APIs. Experimental results verified the proposed human position tracking accuracy in real-time and were in good agreement with current multi-sensor systems.

Keywords: detection; heterogeneous sensor; human pose estimation; inertial sensor; lidar sensor; multi-sensor; sensor fusion; tracking.

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Motion
  • Orientation*