Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!decwrl!purdue!sage.cc.purdue.edu!arh
From: arh@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Eric B)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: creating 3D motion files of bipeds walking, etc
Message-ID: <4340@sage.cc.purdue.edu>
Date: 27 Jun 90 20:13:40 GMT
References: <1N945P5@xds2.ferranti.com>
Organization: Purdue University
Lines: 39

In article <1N945P5@xds2.ferranti.com> karl@ficc.ferranti.com (Karl Lehenbauer) writes:

>What is a good way to go about creating motion files of people walking,
>running, kneeling, sitting down, etc, etc?  I would like to record positions 
>of hands, elbows, shoulders, waist, knees, ankles, etc, over time.

   I saw a report on CNN-Headline News about a group doing this.  Their
focus was "How much time does a person spend in any position during a 
typical workday?"
   The report showed a man wired with "mercury switches" (about 3cm square,
1cm thick) that sensed orientation in 2D.  The info from the switches was
stored in metal box that the person carried in his pocket.  At the end of
the day, the box was plugged into a computer which generated a histogram
of the time spent per position.  
   They also showed a real time representation of position (motion) with
the man connected to a pegboard with sets of lights for each position 
like so...

      body			arm

	|			|\
	|   /   		| \
	|  /   /		|  \
	| /  /			|_ _\_ _ _
	|/ /
	|/_ _ _			  /
	      |\		 /---
	      | \_		/ \
	      |_

   I don't intend for this to be a complete description of what the group 
is doing, only what Headline News conveyed to me.
   This may not be what you want, but if you talk to your local cable
company, they should be able to help you get in contact with CNN.

						later,

						Eric G. Bolinger  8-)
						arh@sage.cc.purdue.edu