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Biomechanics

In the sports arena, the company has conducted studies in all of the major sports arenas: baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, fencing, wrestling and tennis. Dr. McLaughlin's Ph.D. dissertation (project and report) at the University of Illinois dealt with the prediction of the loads (forces) placed on forearm muscles during tennis backhand strokes. Basically, it was one of the first biomechanical studies of tennis elbow. Tom also worked with John McEnroe and the Davis Cup team under Tom Gorman.

One of the most interesting uses of the technology is in sports training systems. For example, real time studies of golf swings are used in computerized training systems which monitor the players' performance and development. High speed cameras are strategically placed around the golfer to capture their motions. Within the golfer's field of vision, other computer monitors provide real-time feedback so that the golfer can watch themselves. Alternately, the player can wear an HMD (Head Mounted Display), similar to the "virtual reality glasses" that our team used at the US Open. The system can compare the golfer's swing to that of a famous professional player. Alternately, the golfer can compare his current swing to a swing from the past - say, from 6 months ago.

A fascinating project the group conducted was the motion analysis of a concert violinist. The purpose of the project was to capture and archive the performance of outstanding musicians. Many years from now students will be able to study and understand the motions of these great artists as they performed.

The motion capture required 6 cameras all linked together. Four of the cameras were focused on close-ups of the hands of the musician. Small motion capture markers were placed on the violinist's finger joints and fingertips. As you can imagine the motions of a violinist's fingers on the strings of the violin are often very small and subtle. Special care was taken with the markers placed on the violin's bow. The musician felt that any weight over a gram on the bow would impact and change his performance. So the engineers at Biomechanics, Inc. created the tiniest of markers for this study.

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