Markerless Motion Tracking in Evaluation of Hurdle Clearance Parameters

In this study, implementation of markerless method of human body motion tracking as a tool of measurement of hurdle clearance kinematic parameters was presented. The analysis involved 5 hurdle runners at various training levels. Recording of video sequences was carried out under simulated starting conditions of a 110 m hurdle race. Kinematic parameters were determined based on the analysis of images recorded with a 100 Hz monocular camera. The suggested method does not involve using any special clothes, markers or estimation support techniques. In the study, the basic numerical characteristics of twenty estimated parameters were presented. The accuracy of determined hurdle clearance parameters was verified by comparison of estimated poses with the ground truth pose. As the quality criterion, the MAE (Mean Absolute Error) was adopted. In the distance parameters, the least error was obtained for the distance between the center of mass (CM) and the hurdle at the first hurdle clearance phase (MAE = 22.0 mm). For the angular parameters, the least error was obtained for the leg angle at the first hurdle clearance phase (MAE = 3.1◦). The level of computed errors showed that the presented method can be used for estimation of hurdle clearance kinematic parameters.