Statically Equivalent Serial Chains

Center of Mass (CoM) Estimation Technique Via the Use of SESC

A SESC is a representation of any multilink branched chain whose end-effector locates the CoM. Locating the CoM is useful for modeling humans and humanoid robots. The method starts with an experimental phase involving a force plate and a motion capture system (MoCap) to construct a model to predict the CoM location. Subsequent motion of the subject updates the CoM model based on the MoCap node positions without need of a force plate, overcoming disadvantages of some other CoM estimation methods. The node-based SESC model is developed to best integrate with Kinect and the likely MoCap systems that will be developed in the near future. Below are two videos of fairly simple articulated systems where SESC is tracking the CoM as the system moves.

SESC MODEL IDENTIFICATION

This is a video capture of our SESC model identification software, in which the data coming from Nintendo Wii BalanceBoard and Microsoft Kinect V2 are simultaneously processed.

Almandeel, Ali, David H. Myszka, Alejandro Gonzalez, and Philippe Fraisse. "Rapidly locating and accurately tracking the center of mass using statically equivalent serial chains." In Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2015 IEEE-RAS 15th International Conference on, pp. 570-575. IEEE, 2015.