Using an IMU for Motion Capture

I was at GDC (big video game developers conference) in San Fransisco last week. I saw a version of motion capture using IMUs. I asked and it had a 3 axis accelerometer, a 3 axis gyro, and a 3 axis magnetometer in each node. Then they strapped a bunch of these on the body (2 for each leg/arm and a others) to track location. Then they use all these sensors to track the body position of an actor and map that to a 3d model. It did a really job at tracking body positions. I asked about drift and they said if you walk 100 yards and back then it might be off by a few feet. I thought this was a nice use for IMUs. Traditionally motion capture is done with video cameras, special markers on the actor's cloths, and complex algorithms. This method is nice because it is self contained, and you can interact with objects without worrying about them blocking the cameras.

Here's the product: http://www.xsens.com/en/general/mtx

And here's a picture I took of the device in action.

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Using an IMU for Motion Capture

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