Universite du Quebec a Montreal selectes Animazoo IGS-180 for ground breaking $.1.5 mill

May 9, 2011 - PRLog -- While optical systems will probably remain the gold standard for motion studies conducted in controlled laboratory environments, recent tests done by the team at UQAM led by Dr. Christian Duval and Patrick Boissy Ph.D means that research of human motion in natural environments outside of the laboratory is now possible using Animazoo’s new IGS-180 inertial motion capture system.

The IGS-180 was selected by the UQAM team for research projects on mobility and aging funded through a grant of $.1.5 million from the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

“We needed to use capture equipment that was as comfortable and unobtrusive to the subject as possible” said Dr Christian Duval. “One of the biggest challenges was to move the studies out of the lab into natural and familiar environments. Using Animazoo’s wireless systems will allow participants to roam freely in their homes during the study sessions”.

The five IGS-180 systems will be used to monitor the mobility of elderly subjects and patients with Parkinson’s disease in their homes over 4 hour continuous periods. The research aims to identify key mobility issues faced by patients that are sensitive to age or the disease by analysing the captured motion data. The ultimate goal of the project is to propose ways to aid and maintain personal independence.

The optical and magnetic motion capture systems from Vicon, Ascension and Northern Digital Systems in the labs of Dr Christian Duval and Patrick Boissy, Ph.D could not cope outside the lab environment. They already owned a system from Moven /Xsens but in tests this was not able to pr-ovide the accuracy, reliability and environmental flexibility required for the study. The only system that was able to meet their exacting needs was Animazoo’s IGS-180.

New magnetic compensation algorithms in Animazoo’s IGS-180 software proved better than expected and by using Animazoo’s SDK, the UQAM team were able to plan all data gathering exactly as they need it and use it in their own analysis pipelines.

“We tested a variety of IMU motion capture systems and were well aware that every system has pros and cons, but Animazoo knew how to deal with and overcome any issues we identified” said Dr Duval. “Aside from the data accuracy, one of the most attractive features of the IGS-180 was its adaptability in the field, and Animazoo understood how to get the system to meet our needs. Animazoo’s efforts to modify the system to fulfil our requirements helped to take the project from a potentially feasible study towards a robust research project”.

“Animazoo’s attention to detail and understanding of IMU-based biomechanics motion capture issues, coupled with their software environment, SDK and willingness to work with us to achieve our goals were deciding factors in our choice of their product for our project.”- Patrick Boissy, Ph.D.

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Animazoo is the world’s leading manufacturer of inertial motion capture systems.

As of January 2010 Animazoo have a client base of over 250 companies using our award winning motion capture systems across 43 different countries. At present Animazoo manufactures both electromechanical inertial systems and gyroscopic inertial systems.

The award winning Gypsy range of electromechanical systems introduced the world to portable, occlusion free, camera-less motion capture in the mid 90′s. In 2004 Animazoo released the first commercial inertial motion capture system to use gyroscopic sensors on body limbs. The Gypsy Gyro 18 raised the bar for modern motion capture.

Animazoo has recently released the IGS-180 full body inertial motion capture system for $45,000 USD and the IGS-150 for $20,000 USD