Sunday, November 2, 2008

SmartSuit - Wearable embedded human motion processing systems

(completed project)
This project is to develop a high performance un-tethered wearable human motion processing system for real-time sensing and processing of human motion data. Embedded sensing techniques for human movement detection, motion data fusion and processing capability, ergonomics of the wearable system, interaction between the wearable sensing system and the physical/virtual environment will be the main research issues. Major applications of this wearable sensing system are in entertainment, animation, medicine, sports and virtual manufacturing. In this project we have developed a low-cost, miniature, flexible, low-component-count goniometer that uses optical linear encoders (OLE) packed in a small pliable casing mounted on a flexible substrate for measuring body joint angle. A flexible steel wire guided by a Teflon tube is attached to the linear encoder to allow linear sliding movement due to the stretch of the skin surface as the body joint bends. The linear displacement taken from the linear encoder can be converted into an angle proportional to the angle formed by the particular body joint. Shown in the figure are sensor pads, sewn with several OLEs, for detecting movements of different body joints. Based on the modularly design sensor pads, we will be able to develop a full body motion suit for digital animation as well as critical joint measurement tools for medical and sports applications. A US provisional patent has been filed in May 2007.
An application of the OLE sensors for rehabilitation has been demonstrated in SICEX exhibition in Suntec City, 12-13 Jan 2008.
This project is supported under ASTAR TSRP Embedded hybrid systems Phase II. For program description and our project details, please refer to:

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