Comparison of three methods for reconstructing 3D motion from 2D video recordings for low cost gait analysis systems

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to quantify the accuracy of 3D trajectory reconstructions performed from two planar video recordings, using three different reconstruction methods. Additionally, the recordings were carried out using easily available equipment, like built-in cellphone cameras, making the methods suitable for low-cost applications. Methods: A setup for 3D motion tracking was constructed and used to acquire 2D video recordings subsequently used to reconstruct the 3D trajectories by 1) merging appropriate coordinates, 2) merging coordinates with proportional scaling, and 3) calculating the 3D position based on markers’ projections on the viewing plane. As experimental verification, two markers moving at a fixed distance of 98.9 cm were used to assess the consistency of results. Next, gait analysis in five volunteers was carried out to quantify the differences resulting from different reconstruction methods. Results: Quantitative evaluation of the investigated 3D trajectories reconstruction methods showed significant differences between those methods, with the worst reconstruction approach resulting in a maximum error of 50% (standard deviation 13%), while the best resulting in a maximum error of 1% (standard deviation 0.44%). The gait analysis results showed differences in mean angles obtained with each reconstruction method reaching only 2°, which can be attributed to the limited measurement volume. Conclusions: Reconstructing 3D trajectory from 2D views without accounting for the “perspective error” results in significant reconstruction errors. The third method described in this study enables a significant reduction of this issue. Combined with the proposed setup, it provides a functional, low-cost gait analysis system.