Estimation of Ground Reaction Force during Sports Activities by Inertial Measurement Units and 3D Forward Dynamics Model

Abstract

Measuring ground reaction forces during sports activity can reveal the technical factors involved in successful movement. Therefore, we focused on a ground reaction force estimation method using inertial measurement units to enable analysis even in environments where measurement is difficult. In this study, we measured jumping motions on land using inertial measurement units, and estimated ground reaction forces and body loads using a forward dynamics model and verified the validity of the method. In this simulation, the body motion is generated by forward dynamics and optimization calculations to match the motion data measured by inertial measurement units, and ground reaction forces, ground reaction moments, joint angles, and joint torques are estimated.