Motion and Ergonomics Capture System (MECS)
The JOiiNT LAB core know-how is in the field of collaborative robotics. This means a close contact between human beings and robots. To achieve this, it is fundamental to understand the movement of the body in real time.
For this reason, the laboratory is equipped with a Motion and Ergonomics Capture System (MECS) that consist of a Vicon motion-capture system (with 12 Vero infrared cameras, 2 Vue video cameras) and 2 AMTI Force plates integrated in the floor, that allow to capture the full kinematic information of the human body and its center of pressure.
This system was designed originally for medical applications, and now it is used in other fields such as computer graphics, animation, gaming, sports, and robotics.
Thanks to particular reflective markers placed over the subject, the infrared cameras track the movements of the subject inside the measurement volume.
In addition, the floor plates provide a measure of forces and torques exchanged with the ground, fundamental information for gait and posture analysis.
The data acquired can be used to analyze the user’s posture, evaluate the ergonomics of the human-robot interaction, or they can be streamed in real-time to our robots, turning MECS into an accurate pilot station.
Moreover, MECS can be connected with other analog and digital sensors like haptic devices, or electromyography (EMG) sensors, extending the versatility of the system and opening to innovative and advanced control paradigms.
