Using Reflective Tape to Measure Treadmill Speed and Detect Perturbations with Infrared Motion-capture Cameras

Hunter Cottrill,* Cameron Rose,* Daniel Liss, and Jessica Allen
Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26505

Presentation No.: 53

Assigned Category (Presentation Format): Engineering (Poster Presentations)

Student’s Major: Biomedical Engineering

Tracking the change in length of the musculotendinous junction (MTJ) of the calf muscle can be an important factor in determining the response of the leg muscles to perturbations, or a loss of balance, while walking. This is especially important as the global lifespan continues to increase, leaving a greater population of elderly at risk for injuries from falling. Using a split-belt treadmill and ultrasound imaging, the MTJ was successfully imaged on human subjects while perturbations occurred. However, the differences between the MTJ during normal stance and perturbed stance cannot be properly ascertained without a means for determining the times at which perturbations begin and end. To solve this, reflective tape was placed on the outer edges of both belts of the treadmill, tracked in Vicon Nexus with motion-capture cameras, and a MATLAB code was written to analyze the position data to calculate the speed of the tape. The method proved to be successful overall, providing correct speeds that displayed perturbations as the tape accelerated and decelerated in sync with the treadmill.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's SURE program (Rita Rio & Michelle Richards-Babb)