Digital Evaluation of Human Gait in Diagnostic Physical Exercises based on Virtual Reality

Digitalized evaluation of human gait becomes a topical problem for mobile healthcare (mHealth) and well-being. We focus on the evaluation for a person performing diagnostic physical exercises. We introduce our algorithm for constructing a digital model of human gait when the person is performing a given exercise. The presented demo application observes human gait based on sensed data from Virtual Reality (VR) trackers attached to human body. Sensed data are collected in the database and processed to construct a 3D model of human motion based on a mathematical model for estimating the human gait parameters (metrics). The VR technology is used for visualization both when a person executes the given exercise and when constructing the resultant 3D model to analyze. Our experimental setup ensures the interconnection of the equipment to perform exercises in virtual space and organize the collection and processing of sensed data. VR trackers operates in real time. Based on the collected data, numerical motion metrics are estimated to form a digital model of human gait. The 3D model is then used by a doctor to analyze gait disorders or by the person him/herself.