Development and Evaluation of a Cost-effective IMU System for Gait Analysis: Comparison with Vicon and VideoPose3D Algorithms

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed to develop and evaluate a costeffective Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) system for gait analysis, comparing its performance with the Vicon system and the VideoPose3D algorithm. The system comprises five calibrated sensors and a mobile app to measure lower body orientation during gait and stair climbing. Eight healthy participants were involved in the experiment, each performing ten repetitions to analyze hip and knee flexion angles. The IMU system demonstrated significantly lower mean square error than deep learning-based approaches and comparable results to the Vicon system, indicating its potential for clinical and research applications.