Evaluation of the Kinect™ sensor for 3-D kinematic measurement in the workplace

Recording posture and movement is important for determining risk of musculoskeletal injury in the workplace, but existing motion capture systems are not suited for field work. Estimates of the 3-D relative positions of four 0.10 m cubes from the Kinect were compared to estimates from a Vicon motion capture system to determine whether the hardware sensing components were sensitive enough to be used as a portable 3-D motion capture system for workplace ergonomic assessments. The root-mean-squared errors (SD) were 0.0065 m (0.0048 m), 0.0109 m (0.0059 m), 0.0057 m (0.0042 m) in the x, y and z directions (with x axis to the right, y axis away from the sensor and z axis upwards). These data were collected over a range of 1.0-3.0 m from the device covering a field of view of 54.0 degrees horizontally and 39.1 degrees vertically. Requirements for software, hardware and subject preparation were also considered to determine the usability of the Kinect in the field. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.