Using Kinect for upper-limb functional evaluation in home rehabilitation: A comparison with a 3D stereoscopic passive marker system

The biomechanical behavior of the upper limb can be clinically assessed through the analysis of the kinematics, the dynamics, and measures of motor control. Such measures are usually obtained in a clinical environment with commercial stereoscopic passive-marker devices that allow high sampling frequency, accuracy and precision, but that are, on the other hand, expensive, require a significant amount of time, and are not portable. Consequently, such assessments are available only in clinics. With the aim of developing applications for neurological patients movement analysis in home environment, an experimental study has been conducted to compare the performances of the motion capture system with the Kinect. The comparison was run during anti-gravitary reaching movements. Results show that the Kinect system can be a low-cost alternative to be used as a measuring system to access patients' performances while executing reaching tasks.