Accurate, flexible and easy to use systems for measurement and analysis of a range of applications including stroke rehabilitation, posture analysis, balance studies and reaching studies. Vicon systems can be used to measure or give real time feedback on the movements of the whole body or any part thereof, including detailed hands, face, feet and spine.

HIGHLY ACCURATE

Vicon systems have been independently shown as the industry’s most accurate motion measurement system. Many neuroscience and motor control research labs have in the past used active marker systems because they have offered accuracy in the 0.1mm range. New sensors, cameras and grayscale algorithms from Vicon now offers the same or better accuracy together with the superior flexibility of passive markers.

FLEXIBLE AND EASY TO USE

The combination of flexible camera layouts, simple calibration procedures and lightweight markers as small as 1mm enables the researcher to address multiple applications with the same system. Also, since the markers are small and do not require cumbersome wires or batteries like active markers do, attaching the markers to the subject is quick and the subject does not feel uncomfortable wearing them. The system can be reconfigured from a unilateral reaching experiment to a full-body standing measurement in just a few minutes. In addition, systems can be split or combined as you wish – allowing you to conduct two small-scale experiments in parallel, or to use all the cameras in a single system if you need a bigger measurement volume.

REAL-TIME BIOFEEDBACK

Many applications, including stroke retraining and reaching studies require real time feedback with a minimum of latency, for example to ascertain whether certain goals have been accomplished or not or simply to create a digital 3D mirror image of the patient. Vicon systems allow you to both obtain the 3D positions of the passive markers and to apply a biomechanical model in real time. The latency is typically in the region of 2 ms. Furthermore, Vicon also integrates real time data from force plates and EMG.

OPEN ARCHITECTURE

Vicon software is designed to allow researchers flexibility both in terms of biomechanical modeling and in terms of data export. You can either choose to use the tools and plug-ins supplied by Vicon to do biomechanical modeling and data export – or you can write your own tools using our SDKs. Furthermore, streaming real time data into third-party or customized applications is straightforward – all the data is sent out using a very simple network protocol as soon as it is ready. This includes both the 3D positions of the passive markers as well as the orientations and positions of body segments if a biomechanical model has been applied.

A rehabilitation program may choose to use the real time system as a tool to speed up stroke rehabilitation. The Vicon system records marker positions in real time, and applies a biomechanical model which allows the subject’s joint angles to be calculated in real time. The goal of the system is for the patient to get visual feedback when a certain everyday task results in joint angles that exceed certain pre-defined envelope values. This would include the following steps:

1. Defining the biomechanical model

Vicon offers a skeletal modeling template allowing the relationships between marker positions and skeletal properties such as joint centers and segment orientations to be calculated in real time. The template is completely generic, allowing the researcher to use any marker configuration on any part of the body. In this example, the researcher may choose to define a single-arm experiment to assess everyday reaching tasks.

2. Creating the feedback software environment

The researcher has two options here – either choose the simplicity of Vicon’s own biofeedback application (Polygon) which graphs joint angles in real time overlaid with pre-recorded data and displays a 3D model of the patient, or choose the flexibility of reading the real time output’s network protocol and defining the feedback environment using third-party software.

3. Setting up the measurement volume

Vicon cameras have flexible tripod attachment and lens options, allowing the researcher to set-up a measurement volume that covers the intended movement quickly and easily. For a seated subject doing simple reaching tasks, the volume is quite small and a small number of cameras will capture accurate, high quality data.

4. Preparing the subject

Anyone used to active marker systems where markers either have wires or batteries will find the simplicity and flexibility of the simple, small, lightweight passive markers a great benefit. Thus, patient preparation time is minimized and so is patient inconvenience.
 

5. Conducting the measurements

Once the patient is wearing the markers, measurements can start immediately. The click of a single button starts the streaming of the data, and the system continues to stream until it is told to stop. From then on, focus changes to the feedback software environment. Since the real time data is streamed using a network protocol, the feedback software can run on a different computer – this means that the patient can view the feedback only without having to be confused by a software environment designed to control the system as well.
 

VICON MX

MX Ultranet. The heart of the most advanced, most accurate digital optical Vicon system to date, the MX Ultranet HD is the central system unit, coordinating the operation of up to 244 cameras in a single system and an unlimited number by combining two or more systems. As well as enabling you to connect up to 244 cameras it can also synchronize data from force plates, EMG, foot switches and other 3rd party measurement devices.

MX Cameras.There are three MX cameras available: MX-F40, MX-F20 and MX-3+.  The camera number corresponds to its resolution - the MX-3+ has 0.3 million pixels, the MX-F20 has 2 million and the MX-F40 no less than 4 million pixels. Regardless of the resolution, they all capture the marker images using grayscale technology, ensuring maximum accuracy. The cameras also has on-board processing that calculates marker centres - or, if you choose, all the gray-scale marker images can be sent to the processing PC.

Vicon Nexus . Easy to use, single click capture application, used to drive the Vicon MX hardware. It includes Vicon MX’s integrated data management system, Eclipse. Supported by all the MX applications, Eclipse enables the user to easily locate, access and manipulate all the data files associated with an experiment or trial – all the 3D data, force plate data, patient notes and so on. Everything under one management structure, so you don’t have to spend time looking for it.

BodyBuilder. Flexible kinematic and kinetic modeling tool enabling the creation of completely custom models through its built-in, optimized scripting system, BodyLanguage

Plug-in Modeler. Plugs into MX Workstation to enable you to automatically process captured data through any custom model created in BodyBuilder.

OLGA . Innovative technique to calculate joint centers and segment orientations more accurately and consistently by optimizing measured movement across the entire trial.

External System Plug-ins. A wide variety of plug-ins is available for Vicon, including data exporters for LifeModeler and SIMM.

DV Video. Simply and inexpensively capture digital video (DV) movies synchronized with Vicon MX 3D data, all set up and controlled through MX Workstation capture software.

PECS. Specifically designed for researchers who wish to incorporate their own export or processing algorithms into the automated workflow, the PECS plug-in allows full read/write access to the gait data from third-party applications, such as MatLab and Microsoft Excel.

Vicon Polygon with Plug-in Gait. All the interactivity and excitement of multimedia reporting in Polygon, combined with all the reliability and provability of using the world’s most established, most verified protocol for Clinical Gait Analysis in Plug-in Gait.

Vicon Motus

Vicon Motus 2D Standard Video System. Enables movement tracking and analysis in two dimensions using a digital camcorder and PC or laptop.

Vicon Motus 2D Optical Capture System. Effortlessly collect primary angles, displacements and speeds of single plane motion by placing contrasting markers over joint centers and connecting a video camera to a computer.

Vicon Motus 3D Field Collection System. A practical system to acquire 3D coordinate data with standard digital camcorders, without any need to take computers out into the field.

Vicon Motus 2D or 3D High Speed Tracking Systems. Track high speed or intricate movement in 2D and 3D with high-speed video cameras operating up to 10,000 frames per second.