TA 4-5

The 8th International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots and Ambient Intelligence (URAI 2011)
Nov. 23-26, 2011 in Songdo ConventiA, Incheon, Korea
978-1-4577-0723-0 / 11 / $26.00 2011 IEEE

Three-dimensional Gait Analysis System with Mobile Force Plates and
Motion Sensors

Tao Liu
1
, Yoshio Inoue
1
, Kyoko Shibata
1
, and Kouzou Shiojima
2

1
Department of Intelligent Mechanical Systems Engineering, Kochi University of Technology, 185 Miyanokuchi,
Tosayamada-Cho, Kami-City, Kochi 782-8502, Japan
(Tel : +81-887-57-2177; E-mail: liu.tao@kochi-tech.ac.jp)
2
TEC GIHAN Co., LTD, 1-22, Nishinohata, Okubo-Cho, Uji-City, Kyoto, 611-0033, Japan
(Tel : +81-774-48-2334; E-mail: k.shiojima@tecgihan.co.jp)


Abstract To overcome limitations of a traditional gait
analysis laboratory, in which stationary force plates and
camera system can not measure more than one stride, in
this paper, we propose a three-dimensional gait analysis
system (M3D) composed of mobile force plates and
motion sensors. Coordinate transformation from local
coordinate system of M3D to global coordinate system is
implemented by using measurements of the mobile force
plate. A stick-chain model was built to visually analyze
three-dimensional human gait and joint trajectories, and
triaxial joint moments during gait can be calculated.

Keywords Coordinate transformation, Force plate, Gait
analysis, Joint moments, Wearable sensor.

1. Introduction

In order to implement three-dimensional (3D) gait
analysis, a complete human kinematic analysis using
inertial sensors is not enough, and a mobile force plate
system to measure ground reaction force (GRF) during
successive gaits is necessary for inverse human dynamics
analysis. By mounting multi-axial force sensors beneath a
special shoe, some instrumented shoes have been
developed for ambulatory measurements of triaxial GRF
in a variety of non-laboratory environments [1-3]. To
analyze dynamics gait and joint loads, 3D inertial sensor
modules have been integrated into wearable force plates.
An integrated sensor system including six degrees of
freedom force and moment sensors and miniature inertial
sensors of Xsens Motion Technologies has been proposed
to estimate joint moments and powers of the ankle [4]. In
our past research, a thin and light force plate based on
triaxial sensors and inertial sensors was also proposed to
analyze continuous gaits by measuring triaxial GRF and
foot orientations [5]. Moreover, we are presently
concentrating on the development of some wearable
sensors to measure human segment orientations during
gait [6]. If 3D orientations of all the leg segments are
integrated with the measured triaxial GRF, an inverse
dynamic method can be used to implement joint dynamics
analysis of lower limb.
In this paper, a complete 3D gait analysis based on a
wireless sensor system is proposed. The sensor system
named as M3D was developed by integrating a mobile
force plate, 3D motion analysis units based on MEMS
sensors and a wireless data logger. A stick-chain model
was built to visually analyze 3D human gait and joint
trajectories.

2. Methods and Materials

2.1 Sensor System

As shown in Fig. 1, a small motion sensor unit (weight:
20g, size: 355015mm
3
) was designed using a triaxial
accelerometer, three uniaxial gyroscopes and a triaxial
magnetic sensor and micro-computer system, which were
provided by Tec Gihan Co. Japan. The sensor unit can
communicate with a data transfer or personal computer by
a RS-485 serial communication port. The inertial and
magnetic sensors specification parameters are given in
Table 1. Nine channels sensor signals (triaxial
accelerations, triaxial angular rates, and triaxial magnetic
intensities) are provided after a 16-bit A/D conversion.



Fig. 1 Wearable motion sensor unit.


Table 1. MAIN SPECIFICATIONS OF INERTIAL AND
MAGNETIC SENSORS
Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetic sensor
Capacity 8g 1200/s 70T
Nonlinearity 0.5% 1% 0.1%
Response 2kHz 140Hz 10kHz

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2011 8th International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots and Ambient Intelligence (URAI)
A Kalman-based fusion algorithm has been applied to
process signals of the triaxial accelerometer and triaxial
magnetic sensor by incorporating excellent dynamics of
gyroscope and stable drift-free performance of the
accelerometer and magnetic sensors. 3D orientations of
the sensor units when mounted on human body segments
can be calculated using the filtered signals. In order to
remove the effects from motion accelerations and
measurement errors on accelerometer measuring the
gravity acceleration, we design an EKF algorithm using (1)
and (2), and the state variables and measurement vector
are given. Since the estimated variables are derived from
the hybrid of accelerometer and gyroscope, it incorporates
excellent dynamics of the gyroscope measurement and
stable drift-free performance of gravity acceleration using
the accelerometer.

(
(
(

(
(
(

=
(
(
(

) 1 (
) 1 (
) 1 (
1 ) 1 ( ) 1 (
) 1 ( 1 ) 1 (
) 1 ( ) 1 ( 1
) (
) (
) (
k A
k A
k A
k T k T
k T k T
k T k T
k A
k A
k A
Z
g
Y
g
X
g
X Y
X Z
Y Z
Z
g
Y
g
X
g
e e
e e
e e (1)
(
(
(

=
(
(
(

) (
) (
) (
) (
) (
) (
k A
k A
k A
k Z
k Z
k Z
Z
g
Y
g
X
g
Z
Y
X
(2)
k=1, 2, 3

where [A] is the state vector and [Z] denotes the
measurement acceleration vector directly equal to the
accelerometer measurement vector; [e] is a 3D angular
velocity vector obtained from the gyroscope
measurements.
After the Kalman filter processing, we can calculate the
pitch angle (Cx: x-axial angular displacement) and roll
angle (Cy: y-axial angular displacement) using the 3D
acceleration measurements.
2 2
)) ( ( )) ( ( / ) ( tan( ) ( k A k A k A a k Cx
X
g
Z
g
Y
g
+ =
(3)

< >
> >
= s
=
Undefined
k A k A if k A k A a
k A k A if k A k A a
k A k A if k A k A a
k Cy
x
g
z
g
z
g
X
g
x
g
z
g
z
g
X
g
x
g
z
g
z
g
X
g
) 0 ) ( ( & ) 0 ) ( ( )) ( / ) ( tan(
) 0 ) ( ( & ) 0 ) ( ( )) ( / ) ( tan(
) 0 ) ( ( & ) 0 ) ( ( )) ( / ) ( tan(
) (
t
t
(4)
We can adopt the same model as (1) and (2) to process
the 3D magnetic sensor measurements, and calculate the
heading angle (Cz: z-axial angular displacement) using (5)
and (6).
(
(
(

(
(
(

(
(
(

=
(
(
(

) (
) (
) (
)) ( cos( 0 )) ( sin(
0 1 0
)) ( sin( 0 )) ( cos(
)) ( cos( )) ( sin( 0
)) ( sin( )) ( cos( 0
0 0 1
) (
) (
) (
k M
k M
k M
k Cy k Cy
k Cy k Cy
k Cx k Cx
k Cx k Cx
k M
k M
k M
Z
g
Y
g
X
g
Z
Y
X
(5)

> < +
< > +
== <
== >
>
=
) 0 ) ( ( & ) 0 ) ( ( )) ( / ) ( tan(
) 0 ) ( ( & ) 0 ) ( ( )) ( / ) ( tan(
) 0 ) ( ( & ) 0 ) ( ( 2 /
) 0 ) ( ( & ) 0 ) ( ( 2 /
)) 0 ) ( ( )) ( / ) ( tan(
) (
k M k M if k M k M a
k M k M if k M k M a
k M k M if
k M k M if
k M if k M k M a
k Cz
Y X Y X
Y X Y X
Y X
Y X
Y Y X
t
t
t
t
(6)

Small triaxial force sensors (USL06-H5-500N)
provided by Tec Gihan Co. Japan can only detect the
three-directional force induced on a small circular plate (
6 mm), so it is difficult to apply directly to the
measurement of the GRF distributed under feet. As shown
in the right photos of Fig. 2, a mobile force plate (weight:
110g, size: 82889mm
3
) to measure triaxial force and
triaxial moment was developed using the three small
triaxial force sensors, in which two aluminum plates were
used as top and bottom plates to accurately fix the three
sensors and signal processing circuits. A detailed
description of the method to extract the triaxial GRF can
be found in our previous publications [5]. In this research,
range of force measurement of the developed force plate in
instrumented shoes for the vertical direction and two
horizontal directions is 1000N and 500N, respectively.
The maximum torque measured by the force plate is 30Nm
for all directions.

In order to implement ambulatory GRF measurements
when the force plates move with feet, a 3D motion sensor
unit based on MEMS sensors to measure 3D orientations
of the mobile force plate was added inside the force plate.
The motion sensor unit can measure triaxial accelerations,
angular velocities and magnetic vector, and data from the
motion sensors can be combined with force sensors data
for a dynamic GRF measurement. As shown in Fig. 3,
coordinate transformation from local coordinate system of
M3D-FP (
FP
) to global coordinate system (
G
) is
implemented by using the measurements of the force plate
system


Fig.3 Coordinate transformation from local coordinate
system of M3D-FP (
FP
) to global coordinate system (
G
)
Triaxial force sensors
Mobile force plates
Instrumented shoes
Fig. 2 Prototype of an instrumented shoes system with two
mobile force plates mounted under the heel and forefoot.
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2.2 Human Dynamics Analysis
Lower limbs kinematic and kinetic analysis was
implemented based on measurements of 3D segment
orientations and GRF using the developed sensor system.
Firstly, 3D joints coordinates were calculated by
combining 3D orientation estimations of the motion sensor
units and gait phase detection of the force plate system.
Secondly, GRF measurements on the feet and 3D joints
coordinates of lower limbs were used to estimate joint
moments.
An inverse dynamics method was adopted to calculate
joint moments in lower limbs. As shown in Fig. 4, after all
the vectors including joint position vector, GRF vector,
moment vector and gravity vector are expressed in the
same coordinate system, being the global coordinate
system, we could obtain the mass center positions
Right
Foot
O
,
Right
Shank
O
,
Right
Thigh
O
by vector calculations on the related joint
positions and segment orientations. The mass of lower
limb segments (
Foot
m
,
Shank
m
,
Thigh
m
) were estimated using a
statics method based on the height and weight information
[7].


















Fig. 4 Stick-chain model defined for the lower limb kinetic
analysis. The coordinate system indicates the global
coordinate.

3. Experiments

3.1 Human Motion and Force Measurements Using
M3D

As shown in Fig. 5, we used the 3D motion sensor units
to measure orientations of the shank and the thigh of two
legs, and the instrumented shoes were worn by subjects to
measure GRF, and foot segments orientations.


Fig. 5 Measurement system (M3D) for 3D gait analysis


The 3D orientations data of lower limbs segments from
one subject during a representative walking trial is shown
in Fig. 6. 3D lower limb gait posture was calculated with
the segment orientations, detections of gait phase cycle,
and lengths of the leg segments. As shown in Fig. 7, a
stick-chain model is used to visually analyze the lower
limb postures, and a group of representative results in level
normal walking.


Fig. 6 Triaxial orientation angles of two legs segments
(the thighs). The dot lines indicate the orientation angles of
the left leg, and the solid lines are the triaxial orientation
angles of the right leg.


Real-time communication by wireless modules
Motion sensor units
Data logger
Note PC with
Wireless LAN
Force plates
X
Y
Z
X Y
Z
Hip
Knee
Ankle
Z
Y
X
1
2
3
4
5
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
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Fig. 7 Visualized lower limb postures by a stick-chain
mode in a level normal walking trial


3.2 Joint Moments

3D lower limb gait posture was calculated with the
segment orientations, detections of gait phase cycle, and
lengths of the leg segments. As shown in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9,
a stick-chain model is used to visually analyze the lower
limb postures, and a group of representative results of joint
moments in stair climbing trials are given.

Fig.8 Stick-link results of stair climbing



Fig.9 Joint moments during stair climbing




4. Conclusions

As an alternative tool of the traditional gait analysis
system based on high-speed cameras and stationary force
plates, a wireless sensor system was developed to obtain
3D motion and force data on successive gait in various
walking environments. A stick-chain model based the
sensor system is proposed to implement human lower limb
kinematic and kinetic analysis. The visualized body
segment orientation and 3D joint moment data should be
helpful to medical doctors in monitoring and evaluating
patient recovery status.


References

[1] G. S. Faber, I., Kingma, M. H. Schepers, P. H. Veltink,
J. H. van Dien, Determination of joint moments with
instrumented force shoes in a variety of tasks, Journal
of Biomechanics, 43, 28482854, 2010.
[2] H. M. Schepers, H. F. J. M. Koopman, P.H. Veltink,
Ambulatory assessment of ankle and foot dynamics,
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 54,
895-902, 2007.
[3] T. Liu, Y. Inoue, K. Shibata, Wearable force sensor
with parallel structure for measurement of
ground-reaction force, Measurement, 40, 644-653,
2007.
[4] C. Liedtke, S.A.W. Fokkenrood, J.T. Menger, H. van
der Kooij, P.H. Veltink, Evaluation of instrumented
shoes for ambulatory assessment of ground reaction
forces, Gait and Posture, 26(1), pp. 39-47, 2007.
[5] T. Liu, Y. Inoue, K. Shibata, A wearable force plate
system for the continuous measurement of triaxial
ground reaction force in biomechanical applications,
Measurement Science and Technology, 20(8), no.
085804, 2010.
[6] T. Liu, Y. Inoue, K. Shibata, Development of a
Wearable Sensor System for Quantitative Gait
Analysis, Measurement, 42(7), 978-988, 2009.
[7] V. Zatsiorsky, V.N. Seluyanov, The mass and inertia
characteristics of the main segments of the human
body, in Biomechanics V-IIIB, Human Kinetics
Publishers, Chamapaign, IL, pp. 1152-1159, 1983.
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