On the development of a wireless motion capture sensor node for upper limb rehabilitation

This article presents the development of a custom designed motion capture system for assisting physicians in upper limb rehabilitation. The scope of the implementation is the reduction in costs and hospitalization time related with existing systems. The system architecture revolves around motion sensing nodes, each utilizing an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), mounted on the upper limb of a patient. A physical working prototype is implemented and evaluated using vision-based passive marker detection techniques. Additionally, a generic upper limb kinematic model, derived from robotic kinematic theory is developed. The parameterization of the model allows for modularity, since a variety of sensing modalities can be rapidly integrated. The combination of the theoretical and physical implementation are evaluated in a preliminary motion sensing scenario for the upper limb of a patient, to depict the feasibility of this approach.