Rectifying postures reconstructed from joint angles to meet constraints

Julian J. Faraway, Xudong Zhang, Don B. Chaffin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Postures are often described and modeled using angles between body segments rather than joint coordinates. Models can be used to predict these angles as a function of anthropometry and postural requirements. Postural representation, however, requires the joint coordinates. The use of conventional forward kinematics to derive joint coordinates from predicted angles may violate task constraints, such as the placement of a hand on a target or a foot on a pedal. Errors arise because the anthropometry or other motion characteristics of a subject, for which the prediction is to be made, may differ from the data from which the prediction model was derived. We describe how to rectify model-predicted postures to exactly satisfy such task constraints. We require that the model used for predicting the angles also produce estimates of the variation in these predictions. We show how to alter the initial angle predictions, with the amount of perturbation at each angle dependent on the accuracy of its estimation, so as to exactly satisfy the joint coordinate constraints. Finally, we show in an empirical example that this correction usually produces better overall predictions of posture than those obtained initially.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)733-736
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Biomechanics
Volume32
Issue number7
Early online date23 Jun 1999
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 1999

Funding

The authors acknowledge the support of the Chrysler Corporation Challenge fund and Dr.Deborah Thompson in particular.

Keywords

  • Optimization
  • Postural constraints
  • Pseudoinverse

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Rehabilitation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Rectifying postures reconstructed from joint angles to meet constraints'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this