LAUSR

Abstract The objective of this study is to determine if wearable inertial-magnetic tracking systems can be suitably used to conduct full-body motion analysis when performing common tasks in the automotive manufacturing industry. Twenty unimpaired participants were recruited for this study. Seventeen Xsens inertial-magnetic sensors and fifty-two Cortex reflective markers were secured onto each of the participants to record their operations at six workstations. We compared the root mean square error produced by the two measuring systems in 13 human joints. We also evaluated the linear positional error of the left foot placement. Due to the complexity of the shoulder girdle motion, we compared the outputs from the Cortex and Xsens systems in two additional postural tests with a 3rd camera system. Our results indicate that the Xsens platform is affected by positional drifts; however, such drifts are contained in an acceptable range. Due to the use of magnetometers to measure tilt, data from these complementary inertial sensors can be used to reduce drift by continuously correcting the orientation obtained by integrating sensor data. The Xsens system maintains acceptable accuracy (r.m.s.e.  Relevance to industry An accurate wearable inertial-magnetic tracking system can be used to conduct multi-segment full-body motion analysis when performing common tasks in the manufacturing industry. The easy integration of such sensors with dynamic simulation software can help creating a virtual full-body ergonomic assessment for occupational activities to prevent work-related musculoskeletal injury among workers.