Running the System-February 16th, 2017

This week I transitioned from being in front of the cameras, to working the Vicon system behind the scenes. I found this to be stressful because there are a lot of small, easily-forgotten steps that have to be taken or else the system won't function. Everything went smoothly, and we were able to record two good captures. One problem that we encountered this week and last week is that the shoulder marker would disappear at the beginning of a capture. This was easily remedied by moving the marker toward the back of the shoulder. This meant the marker could still be seen when the subject extended their arms forward to grab whatever they were lifting. The problem I see with this solution is that now the marker is no longer recording the position of the shoulder joint, just somewhere around the shoulder. When I originally had the system described to me, I thought that it simply created a field where the markers would be tracked no matter what. But because the system relies on seeing the markers to track them, trackers often don't show up. This has led me to think about a different type of motion capture system that has markers similar to this system but doesn't actually rely on cameras to record the markers. This system would be especially useful for more complex actions and actions where machinery blocks the view of the subject. I'm not sure if this type of system is possible, but it is interesting to ponder. The video I have attached this week shows what the Vicon system shows. Those two lines show the motion of a squat lift!