Identification of Human Inertia Properties Using a Momentum-Based Approach

This paper presents a momentum-based approach for identifying the barycentric parameters of a human body. The human body is modeled as a multiple rigid-body dynamical system with a tree-type topology using the principle of impulse and momentum. Since the resulting impulse-momentum equations are linear in terms of the unknown barycentric parameters, these parameters can be easily solved using the least-square method or other well-understood solution techniques. The approach does not require measuring or estimating accelerations and internal forces because they do not appear in the impulse-momentum equations and, thus, the resulting identification procedure is less demanding on the measurement and also less sensitive to measurement errors in comparison with other existing methods derived based on Newton-Euler or Lagrangian equations. The momentum-based approach has been studied by dynamics simulations with the consideration of possible measurement errors. The study showed good results.