Multi-segmental movement patterns reflect juggling complexity and skill level.

The juggling action of six experts and six intermediates jugglers was recorded with a motion capture system and decomposed into its fundamental components through Principal Component Analysis. The aim was to quantify trends in movement dimensionality, multi-segmental patterns and rhythmicity as a function of proficiency level and task complexity. Dimensionality was quantified in terms of Residual Variance, while the Relative Amplitude was introduced to account for individual differences in movement components.

A novel approach to solve the "missing marker problem" in marker-based motion analysis that exploits the segment coordination patterns in multi-limb motion data.

Marker-based human motion analysis is an important tool in clinical research and in many practical applications. Missing marker information caused by occlusions or a marker falling off is a common problem impairing data quality. The current paper proposes a conceptually new gap filling algorithm and presents results from a proof-of-principle analysis.

Quantifying instantaneous performance in alpine ski racing.

Alpine ski racing is a popular sport in many countries and a lot of research has gone into optimising athlete performance. Two factors influence athlete performance in a ski race: speed and the chosen path between the gates. However, to date there is no objective, quantitative method to determine instantaneous skiing performance that takes both of these factors into account.