THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PORTABLE NON-INVASIVE SYSTEM FOR ANALYSING HUMAN MOVEMENT C. O'Brien

In the study of human movements, subjects are usually constrained by trailing wires or by having to remain within the field of view o f a camera or other optical device. paper describes the development of a ful ly portable system which allows the subject to move about quite freely i n carrying out their normal daily activities. Compact strain-gauge electrical transducers are used to detect postural changes and to measure angular displacements at joints. miniature cassette tape recorder worn by the subject. This The output from these transducers are fed into a battery operated The cassette tapes, which have a recording capacity of several hours, are played back at high speed and the output fed directly into a computer for analysis. In addition to data on angular displacements, velocities and accelerations associated with particular movements, statistical information can be obtained about a person's movement and posture throughout the day