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Introduction: Our recent reports have shown that movement pattern and displacement assessed with an infrared depth sensor during a 20-s stepping-in-place test (ST) correlates with measures of balance and need for assistance in older individuals. This study investigated ST test-retest reliability in community-dwelling older adults with and without supportive care. Methods: Two groups were included: those not participating (HO: n = 25, 74.7 ± 5.2 years) and those participating (DSU: n = 41, 78.8 ± 5.8 years) in regular senior day services (supportive care). HO completed three ST trials, separated by 1 week, while DSU completed two ST trials during the same half-day supportive care visit. Testing was conducted with eyes open. ST measures included head movement path distance (TMD), maximum movement displacement (MMD), knee movement path length (KMD), and stepping rate (STEP). TMD×KMD−1 ratio indicated upper-body sway relative to lower-body. Test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficients, ICCs) and between-trial and between group differences (ANCOVA, adjusting for age) were assessed. Results: After adjusting for age, TMD, KMD, TMD×KMD−1 were lesser and STEP was greater in HO than DUS. HO ST variables did not differ across testing days. HO ICC (1, 3) for TMD (0.911 [95% confidence interval: 0.827–0.958]), MMD (0.918 [0.814–0.961]), KMD (0.838 [0.685–0.923]), and TMD×KMD−1 (0.940 [0.884–0.872]) showed strong to very strong reliability. Similarly, DSU ST variables did not differ across same day trials and ICC (1, 2) for TMD, KMD, and TMD×KMD−1 displayed very strong reliability. Conclusion: These ST variables exhibited excellent test-retest reliability of discriminating between community-dwelling older adults with and without supportive care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyone aspires to live a healthy life, but many will inevitably experience some form of disease, illness, or accident that results in disability at some point. Rehabilitation plays a crucial role in helping individuals recover from these disabilities and return to their daily activities. Traditional rehabilitation methods are often expensive, are inefficient, and lead to slow progress for patients. However, in this era of technology, various sensor-based automatic rehabilitation is also possible. A Kinect sensor is a skeletal tracking device that captures human motions and gestures. It can provide feedback to the users, allowing them to better understand their progress and adjust their movements accordingly. In this study, stroke-based rehabilitation is presented along with the Toronto Rehab Stroke Pose Dataset (TRSP). Pre-processing of the raw dataset was performed using various features, and several state-of-the-art classifiers were applied to evaluate the data provided by the Kinect sensor. Among the various classifiers, eXtreme Gradient Boosing (XGB) attained the maximum accuracy of 92% for the TRSP dataset. Furthermore, hyperparameters of the XGB have been optimized using a metaheuristic gray wolf optimizer for better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry 5.0 emphasises collaborative work between humans, advanced technology, and artificial intelligence robots, focusing on human-centric principles and integrating flexibility and sustainability to enhance workflows. The advancement of human-robot interaction services can significantly improve the operations efficiency of digital twin manufacturing cells. Motivated by the above background, a gesture-driven interaction architecture for digital twin manufacturing cells is proposed, including data acquisition layer, data processing layer, and application service layer. Secondly, deep learning algorithms are employed for recognising predefined gestures. An improved YOLOv5 algorithm is used to solve the problem of low accuracy in static gesture recognition; while a 3D-CNN-based multimodal data fusion algorithm is used to solve the problem of continuity, diversity, and dimensionality in dynamic gesture recognition. Ultimately, the prototype system is developed utilising Kinect 2.0 and Unity 3D, which involves linking the gesture recognition to the digital twin model, and linking the digital twin model to the physical manufacturing cells. This study is expected to provide theoretical and practical insights to empower human-robot interaction technology in manufacturing cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to enable rescue robots to accurately detect human joint points in dangerous building environments to replace rescuers into dangerous scenes. A machine learning based human joint point detection method was proposed. Firstly, human joint detection data was obtained through Kinect cameras, and normalized methods were used to smooth and preprocess the joint data. Secondly, human joint length constraints and joint rotation angle constraints were added to the preprocessed data to generate the spatial positions of each human joint point. Finally, the Tsai method was used for hand eye calibration to obtain the distance between the robotic arm and the injured person. The experimental results show that the method accurately measures the position of the casualty joint point in the rescue environment of a dangerous building, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed detection method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify quantitative biomarkers of motor function for cerebellar ataxia by evaluating gait and postural control using an RGB-depth camera-based motion analysis system. In 28 patients with degenerative cerebellar ataxia and 33 age- and sex-matched healthy controls, motor tasks (short-distance walk, closed feet stance, and stepping in place) were selected from a previously reported protocol, and scanned using Kinect V2 and customized software. The Clinical Assessment Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) was also evaluated. Compared with the normal control group, the cerebellar ataxia group had slower gait speed and shorter step lengths, increased step width, and mediolateral trunk sway in the walk test (all P < 0.001). Lateral sway increased in the stance test in the ataxia group (P < 0.001). When stepping in place, the ataxia group showed higher arrhythmicity of stepping and increased stance time (P < 0.001). In the correlation analyses, the ataxia group showed a positive correlation between the total SARA score and arrhythmicity of stepping in place (r = 0.587, P = 0.001). SARA total score (r = 0.561, P = 0.002) and gait subscore (ρ = 0.556, P = 0.002) correlated with mediolateral truncal sway during walking. These results suggest that the RGB-depth camera-based motion analyses on mediolateral truncal sway during walking and arrhythmicity of stepping in place are useful digital motor biomarkers for the assessment of cerebellar ataxia, and could be utilized in future clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional robotic arms rely on complex programming and predefined trajectories to operate, which limits their applicability. To improve the flexibility and adaptability of the robot arm, the research focuses on improving the grasping performance of the robot arm based on vision technology. Kinect technology is used to capture human arm movements, and Kalman filter is introduced to smooth image data, so as to optimize the motion recognition process. In this study, the residual network model is further improved, and ELU activation function and pre-activation mechanism are introduced to enhance the classification accuracy of gesture images. The results showed that the improved ResNet50 model achieves 95% recognition accuracy after 25 iterations of training, while the original model is 80%. The application of Kalman filter makes the motion tracking curve smoother and shows the correction effect of this method. In simulation tests, the robotic arm is able to identify different elbow bending angles with 90-96 percent accuracy, while mimicking five specific hand gestures with 96-98 percent accuracy. These data support the practicability and effectiveness of the application of vision capture technology and deep learning model in the field of intelligent control of robotic arms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated children's positive emotions as an indicator of their underlying prosocial motivation. In Study 1, 2-, and 5-year-old children (N = 64) could either help an individual or watch as another person provided help. Following the helping event and using depth sensor imaging, we measured children's positive emotions through changes in postural elevation. For 2-year-olds, helping the individual and watching another person help was equally rewarding; 5-year-olds showed greater postural elevation after actively helping. In Study 2, 5-year-olds' (N = 59) positive emotions following helping were greater when an audience was watching. Together, these results suggest that 2-year-old children have an intrinsic concern that individuals be helped whereas 5-year-old children have an additional, strategic motivation to improve their reputation by helping.

Objective: Low-cost, portable RGB-D cameras with integrated motion tracking functionality enable easy-to-use 3D motion analysis without requiring expensive facilities and specialized personnel. However, the accuracy of existing systems is insufficient for most clinical applications, particularly when applied to children. In previous work, we developed an RGB-D camera-based motion tracking method and showed that it accurately captures body joint positions of children and young adults in 3D. In this study, the validity and accuracy of clinically relevant motion parameters that were computed from kinematics of our motion tracking method are evaluated in children and young adults. Methods: Twenty-three typically developing children and healthy young adults (5-29 years, 110–189 cm) performed five movement tasks while being recorded simultaneously with a marker-based Vicon system and an Azure Kinect RGB-D camera. Motion parameters were computed from the extracted kinematics of both methods: time series measurements, i.e., measurements over time, peak measurements, i.e., measurements at a single time instant, and movement smoothness. The agreement of these parameter values was evaluated using Pearson’s correlation coefficients r for time series data, and mean absolute error (MAE) and Bland-Altman plots with limits of agreement for peak measurements and smoothness. Results: Time series measurements showed strong to excellent correlations (r-values between 0.8 and 1.0), MAE for angles ranged from 1.5 to 5 degrees and for smoothness parameters (SPARC) from 0.02-0.09, while MAE for distance-related parameters ranged from 9 to 15 mm. Conclusion: Extracted motion parameters are valid and accurate for various movement tasks in children and young adults, demonstrating the suitability of our tracking method for clinical motion analysis. Clinical Impact: The low-cost portable hardware in combination with our tracking method enables motion analysis outside of specialized facilities while providing measurements that are close to those of the clinical gold-standard.

As manufacturing processes of complex products become automated, manual operations still occupy a considerable portion of industrial maintenance and assembly (IMA), especially in the machinery and aerospace fields. Workers often exhibit awkward posture in IMA activities. In these scenarios, posture assessment is critical for improving the well-being of workers because awkward postures can lead to work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD). Although there are several categorized WMSD risk assessment methods, limited evidence suggests that these methods are compliant for modern complex IMA scenarios. In this paper, a posture analysis system for manual operation (PASMO) is presented to monitor working postures and evaluate WMSD risks in IMA processes. The noninvasive depth sensor Kinect v2 and the rapid upper limb analysis (RULA) method are integrated to achieve this purpose. In the PASMO, the RULA is optimized and driven by motion capture (MoCap) data to make evaluating the WMSD risk of working postures more effective and accurate. Industrial and laboratory experiments are designed to verify the effectiveness and system performance of the PASMO. The results show that for the overall body and most joints, the scores obtained by the PASMO substantially agree with those obtained by the ground truth data (p < 0.01, κ = 0.65) under the real industrial environment. Because the experiments are conducted in real IMA scenarios with body occlusion, the results preliminarily prove the effectiveness of the PASMO for WMSD risk assessment in continuous IMA tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's digital era, human-computer interaction interfaces evolve and increase together with the needs of the users. However, the existing technologies have their limitations, which can hinder the efficiency of modern input devices like the Kinect sensor or other similar sensors. In this paper we improved our previous algorithm by extending it with two algorithms that aim to help telerehabilitation for individuals with movement disabilities. These two algorithms are based on the k-Nearest Neighbors, the k-Means algorithms. The algorithms are designed to accommodate the needs of the patients by adapting to their gestures based on their previous three. Using these gestures, the algorithms create multiple gesture acceptance domains around each coordinate of the gesture. Consequently, they decide whether the next user-input gesture can be considered the same movement. The accuracy of these algorithms was evaluated in three acceptance domains by comparing gesture descriptors with either the Euclidean or the Manhattan distance calculation methods. The results show that k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm yields better results in larger acceptance domains, while the k-Means algorithm can provide a better gesture acceptance rate in the smaller ones. The results show that both algorithms can be used in the telerehabilitation process, although the k-Means algorithm is more accurate than the k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of bed material and downstream flow depth on bed evolution in a right-angled channel confluence were studied through laboratory experiments. Velocity field, water surface elevation, and bed profile were measured intermittently until the flow attained equilibrium. Sediment discharges at various locations of the confluence were estimated from bed levels. Six prominent bedforms were identified, and their characteristics were quantified. The sediment discharges from different channels were initially high but decreased to approximately zero as the flow attained equilibrium. Downstream flow depth influenced overall sediment transport in the system, including the main features of bed morphology. Overall erosion in the confluence reduced as the particle size of the bed material increased. In addition, the maximum scour depth occurred at the confluence edge, and, due to the sharp corner of the confluence, its location did not change with time. Results from the present experimental study can help validate numerical models and assist in the design of a right-angled confluence. This study is related to the hydraulics of man-made confluences with mobile beds and can be useful in the following practical applications. More accurate numerical models to predict maximum scour, bed morphodynamics, and sediment transport in man-made confluences can be developed using the detailed bed profile measurements at different time instants presented in this study. Note that available numerical models use sediment discharge formulas (e.g., Meyer-Peter-Muller, Van Rijn), which are for sediment flows in straight channels. The interplay between the three-dimensional flow field, developed bed shear stress, and sediment discharge can be explored. In addition, A man-made confluence with the mobile bed can be designed with findings from the present study. The bedforms corresponding to equilibrium flow depend on discharge ratio, confluence angle, flow conditions at the exit channel, and bed material characteristics. The major bedforms can be incorporated into the confluence geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Body composition assessment using instruments such as dual X-ray densitometry (DXA) can be complex and their use is often limited to research. This cross-sectional study aimed to develop and validate a densitometric method for fat mass (FM) estimation using 3D cameras. Using two such cameras, stereographic images, and a mesh reconstruction algorithm, 3D models were obtained. The FM estimations were compared using DXA as a reference. In total, 28 adults, with a mean BMI of 24.5 (±3.7) kg/m2 and mean FM (by DXA) of 19.6 (±5.8) kg, were enrolled. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for body volume (BV) was 0.98–0.99 (95% CI, 0.97–0.99) for intra-observer and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.96–0.99) for inter-observer reliability. The coefficient of variation for kinetic BV was 0.20 and the mean difference (bias) for BV (liter) between Bod Pod and Kinect was 0.16 (95% CI, −1.2 to 1.6), while the limits of agreement (LoA) were 7.1 to −7.5 L. The mean bias for FM (kg) between DXA and Kinect was −0.29 (95% CI, −2.7 to 2.1), and the LoA was 12.1 to −12.7 kg. The adjusted R2 obtained using an FM regression model was 0.86. The measurements of this 3D camera-based system aligned with the reference measurements, showing the system's feasibility as a simpler, more economical screening tool than current systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Falls are a leading cause of unintentional injury and death and pose a significant risk to individuals living alone, particularly older adults. The World Health Organization reports that approximately 684000 fatal falls occur annually, and that timely fall detection is essential to enable prompt treatment and mitigate harm. To address this challenge, we propose a novel inhome fall detection system that uses the Kinect V2 sensor instead of a wearable device. The system can promptly alert a person's caregivers or family members when it detects a fall, enabling timely assistance. The Kinect V2 sensor captures depth frames and performs skeleton tracking, and body parts in single-depth image pixels are identified using a random forest classifier. v-disparity images, the Hough transform, and the random sample consensus algorithm are used to identify the floor in depth images, and falls are predicted by analyzing the vertical accelerations of 10 joints in the human skeleton. The system can issue an alarm up to 0.5 s before a fall, enabling preventive measures to be taken. In experiments, the proposed system was effective in accurately predicting falls and hence, has potential to improve fall risk management in caregiving environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder known for its significant heterogeneity and varied symptom presentation. Describing the different subtypes as predominantly inattentive (ADHD–I), combined (ADHD–C), and hyperactive–impulsive (ADHD–H) relies primarily on clinical observations, which can be subjective. To address the need for more objective diagnostic methods, this pilot study implemented a Microsoft Kinect-based Stroop Color–Word Test (KSWCT) with the objective of investigating the potential differences in executive function and motor control between different subtypes in a group of children and adolescents with ADHD. A series of linear mixture modeling were used to encompass the performance accuracy, reaction times, and extraneous movements during the tests. Our findings suggested that age plays a critical role, and older subjects showed improvements in KSWCT performance; however, no significant divergence in activity level between the subtypes (ADHD–I and ADHD–H/C) was established. Patients with ADHD–H/C showed tendencies toward deficits in motor planning and executive control, exhibited by shorter reaction times for incorrect responses and more difficulty suppressing erroneous responses. This study provides preliminary evidence of unique executive characteristics among ADHD subtypes, advances our understanding of the heterogeneity of the disorder, and lays the foundation for the development of refined and objective diagnostic tools for ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capturing and development of a real time 3D face recognition system is always a big challenge and attracts huge popularity nowadays. This is because, in most security systems employing face recognition, it is always crucial to capture live images and recognize them. This should save time and cost as well, and incredibly is acceptable across all areas of security concerns. This paper deals with the development of an entirely new 3D face recognition system which was developed in Jadavpur University with six subjects captured fully in real time. The main problem which we have tried to address in the present work is that, how various issues like camera calibration, alignment of the camera, distance of the camera from the subject affects the facial recognition rate. We will also analyze how facial registration helps to increase the recognition rates which have been imposed by the above factors. The problem is relevant, because, it's always a challenge to capture and correctly predict a real time system. The necessary problems needed for setting up a real time system is always a matter to be investigated by the researchers in face recognition domain. The main overview of our present proposed method is to capture the subjects in real-time taking into consideration all the calibration issues like camera alignment, distance of camera from the subject, and several other factors. We have also discussed how these factors affect the recognition rate. Once captured, we have tried to justify the varying recognition rate of the subjects due to the changes in calibration, alignment and other issues. Now, in order to improve the performances of the subjects, we have proposed a new 3D face registration algorithm termed as FaRegAvFM8, which was tested on the subjects from our database acquired in real-time, as well as on Frav3D and GavabDB databases. Our system attained a recognition rate of 95.83% after registration on frontal subjects using Haar wavelet as the feature extraction method, which depicts the robustness of the present system. Not only that, we have improved our recognition rate up to 96% using the Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three-dimensional (3D) geometrical information that depth maps contain is useful in many applications such as 3D reconstruction or simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). Kinect is widely used in depth image acquisition due to its low cost and good real-time performance. However, the quality of depth images obtained by Kinect is influenced by holes which make depth image inadequate for further applications. To suppress the influence of holes on a subsequent application, a fixing algorithm of Kinect depth image based on non-local means (NLM) is proposed in this paper. The holes in depth image are filled using the weights which are calculated on the corresponding gray image by distance factor and value consistent factor. And the experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves good performance in both evaluation in metrics and subjectively visual effect. This research provides a solution idea for depth image fixing algorithm with low complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, markerless tracking systems, such as RGB-Depth cameras, have spread to overcome some of the limitations of the gold standard marker-based tracking systems. Although these systems are valuable substitutes for human motion analysis, as they guarantee higher flexibility, faster setup time and lower costs, their tracking accuracy is lower with respect to marker-based systems. Many studies quantified the error made by markerless systems in terms of body segment length estimation, articular angles, and biomechanics, concluding that they are appropriate for many clinical applications related to motion analysis. We propose an innovative approach to compare a markerless tracking system (Kinect V2) with a gold standard marker-based system (Vicon), based on motor control assessment. We quantified kinematic synergies from the tracking data of fifteen participants performing multi-directional upper limb movements. Kinematic synergy analysis decomposes the kinematic data into a reduced set of motor primitives that describe how the central nervous system coordinates motion at spatial and temporal level. Synergies were extracted with the recently released mixed-matrix factorization algorithm. Four synergies were extracted from both marker-based and markerless datasets and synergies were grouped in 6 clusters for each dataset. Cosine similarity in each cluster was ⩾0.60 in both systems, showing good consistency of synergies. Good matching was found between synergies extracted from markerless and from marker-based data, with a cosine similarity between matched synergies ⩾0.60 in 5 out 6 synergies. These results showed that the markerless sensor can be feasible for kinematic synergy analysis for gross movements, as it correctly estimates the number of synergies and in most cases also their spatial and temporal organization.

Everyone aspires to live a healthy life, but many will inevitably experience some form of disease, illness, or accident that results in disability at some point. Rehabilitation plays a crucial role in helping individuals recover from these disabilities and return to their daily activities. Traditional rehabilitation methods are often expensive, are inefficient, and lead to slow progress for patients. However, in this era of technology, various sensor-based automatic rehabilitation is also possible. A Kinect sensor is a skeletal tracking device that captures human motions and gestures. It can provide feedback to the users, allowing them to better understand their progress and adjust their movements accordingly. In this study, stroke-based rehabilitation is presented along with the Toronto Rehab Stroke Pose Dataset (TRSP). Pre-processing of the raw dataset was performed using various features, and several state-of-the-art classifiers were applied to evaluate the data provided by the Kinect sensor. Among the various classifiers, eXtreme Gradient Boosing (XGB) attained the maximum accuracy of 92% for the TRSP dataset. Furthermore, hyperparameters of the XGB have been optimized using a metaheuristic gray wolf optimizer for better performance.

Human Activity Recognition is the act of recognizing activities performed by humans in real-time. This can be done using video data or more advanced forms of data like- inertial, depth maps, or human skeletal joint trajectories. In this work, we perform human action recognition through skeletal joint tracking of the human body using a deep recurrent neural network. Our proposed method was then tested on two standard databases, namely UTD-MHAD and MSR- Daily Activity 3D-Datasets. The judgement on the efficiency of our proposed model was made by comparing it to various, recently published, State-Of-The-Art (SOTA) methods.The evaluations of our model show that our method performs well on both the datasets and achieves an accuracy of 99.07%, and 91%, on UTD-MHAD and MSR Daily Activity databases respectively, and can recognize human activities from a variety of domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Falling down is a common symptom of geriatric syndromes, and fractures and intracranial hemorrhages triggered by falling down lead to serious problems and impair life functioning. Moreover, it sometimes leads to a higher risk of death. In Japan in recent years, the number of fatalities from traffic accidents has been declining, whereas the number of fatalities from falls has been leveling off. In 2020, 8851 people died from falls, whereas the number of fatalities from traffic accidents was 2199. The number of fatalities among the elderly due to falls is approximately four times the number of fatalities from traffic accidents. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a system that analyzes the body by using Kinect, an infrared depth sensor for tracking a skeletal model of a user. In this study, the goal is for the predicted fall values from Kinect-measured data and the predicted fall values from motion-capture-measured data to be close to the predicted values, so that this technology can eventually be used in clinical practice. On the basis of information from the skeletal model, the system analyzes element indices such as the center of gravity and body tilt of people in need of nursing care when falling down. Then, it predicts the risk factor for falling down. This information is used for detecting warning signs for falling down in the early stages. Finally, this study will contribute to decreasing number of falls from the bed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Evaluation of the working postures and development of new techniques are paramount in reducing the awkward postures and occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The Kinect sensor, a portable and cost-effective device, appears to be a promising alternative to study work postures. OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to evaluate the validity of Kinect against the gold-standard instrument (electro-goniometers) for body joint angle measurements. METHODS: A unique software application was developed to measure the critical body joint angles for postural evaluation by using the Kinect's skeletal tracking feature. The body joint angle data of ten volunteers were measured simultaneously by both Kinect and electro-goniometers. The validation analysis was conducted in both static and dynamic domains of application. RESULTS: Minimal variation was observed between the two techniques, and the Kinect correlated well for upper-arm joint angles of 45 ∘ , 60 ∘ and 90 ∘ ; lower-arm joint angles of 30 ∘ , 45 ∘ , 60 ∘ , and 90 ∘ ; straight neck position, neck joint angle at maximum possible flexion; straight trunk position, trunk bend angle at full flexion. In dynamic analysis, four out of five ICC values were > 0.75 except for the upper arm. Discrepancies in the results indicated the disapproval of Kinect for only wrist measurements. CONCLUSION: The results of the static and dynamic studies gave a sufficient basis to consider the Kinect tool as an alternative to contemporary posture-based ergonomic evaluation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frailty is common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and increases vulnerability to adverse outcomes. Early detection of this syndrome aids in early intervention. Aims: To objectively identify frailty at an early stage during routine motor tasks in PD patients using a Kinect-based system. Methods: PD patients were recruited and assessed with the Fried criteria to determine their frailty status. Each participant was recorded performing the Movement Disorder Society-Sponsored Revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III (MDS-UPDRS III) extremity tasks with a Kinect-based system. Statistically significant kinematic parameters were selected to discriminate the pre-frail from the non-frail group. Results: Of the fifty-two participants, twenty were non-frail and thirty-two were pre-frail. Decreased frequency in finger tapping (P = 0.005), hand grasping (P = 0.002), toe tapping (P = 0.002), and leg agility (P = 0.019) alongside reduced hand grasping speed (P = 0.030), lifting (P < 0.001) and falling speed (P < 0.001) in leg agility were observed in the pre-frail group. Amplitude in leg agility (P = 0.048) and amplitude decrement rate (P = 0.046) in hand grasping showed marginally significant differences between two groups. Moderate discriminative values were found in frequency and speed of the extremity tasks to identify pre-frailty with sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) in the range of 45.00–85.00%, 68.75–100%, and 0.701–0.836, respectively. The combination of frequency and speed in extremity tasks showed moderate to high discriminatory ability, with AUC of 0.775 (95% CI 0.637–0.913, P < 0.001) for upper limb tasks and 0.909 (95% CI 0.832–0.987, P < 0.001) for lower limb tasks. When combining these features in both upper and lower limb tasks, the AUC increased to 0.942 (95% CI 0.886–0.999, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated the promise of utilizing Kinect-based kinematic data from MDS-UPDRS III tasks as early indicators of frailty in PD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has been significant research into the recognition of human activities using three-dimensional sequential skeleton data captured by the Kinect depth sensor. Many of these studies employ deep learning models. This study introduces a novel feature selection method for this data and analyzes it using machine learning models. Due to the high-dimensional nature of the original Kinect data, effective feature extraction methods are required to address the classification challenge. In this research, we propose using the first four moments as predictors to represent the distribution of joint sequences and evaluate their effectiveness using two datasets: The exergame dataset, consisting of three activities, and the MSR daily activity dataset, composed of ten activities. The results show that the accuracy of our approach outperforms existing methods on average across different classifiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative technologies can improve user usability and satisfaction in computer-based activities in the work environment, including surgeons working in the operating room (OR). A scrubbed surgeon must ask unscrubbed staff to retrieve medical images from a surgical PACS system on a monitor in a hybrid operating room. The study aimed to check users' usability and satisfaction with the designed and developed Ortho_Kinect_OR application, which enables contactless control of access to medical images during surgery. The application also facilitates access to telemedicine applications such as intraoperative telementoring during orthopedic procedures or tele-education. The application's usability was tested by assigning standardized tasks to surgeons for PACS and teleconferencing in the operating room. Hand gestures were recognized and translated to function like mouse buttons. Field tests conducted among orthopedic surgeons showed high usability and user satisfaction. PACS access in the operating room did not distract the orthopedic surgeon during orthopedic surgery procedures. All surgeons completed the tests and tasks without any problems. OR field test results showed high agreement among users and were very satisfactory. Junior surgeons and residents pointed out that people with average computer knowledge could use the application. It has been shown that the contactless system designed and built based on the Kinect sensor available on the shelves meets the requirements of the operating room environment and is easy to use. Touchless controller technology provides the opportunity to increase the use of intraoperative imaging previews and improve the safety of surgical patients by improving sterility and reducing unnecessary staff in the operating room. Using the Ortho_Kinect_OR application and the Kinect sensor, it is possible to provide contactless access to videoconference telementoring and PACS in the operating room without an orthopedic surgeon's unnecessary distraction in the operating room environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study relates to emerging concepts of appropriate trial designs to evaluate effects of intervention on the accumulation of irreversible disability in multiple sclerosis (MS). Major starting points of our study are the known limitations of current definitions of disability progression by rater-based clinical assessment and the high relevance of gait and balance dysfunctions in MS. The study aims to explore a novel definition of disease progression using repeated instrumental assessment of relevant motor functions performed by patients in their home setting. Methods: The study is a prospective single-center observational cohort study with the primary outcome acquired by participants themselves, a home-based assessment of motor functions based on an RGB-Depth (RGB-D) camera, a camera that provides both depth (D) and color (RGB) data. Participants are instructed to perform and record a set of simple motor tasks twice a day over a one-week period every 6 months. Assessments are complemented by a set of questionnaires. Annual research grade assessments are acquired at dedicated study visits and include clinical ratings as well as structural imaging (MRI and optical coherence tomography). In addition, clinical data from routine visits is provided semiannually by treating neurologists. The observation period is 24 months for the primary endpoint with an additional clinical assessment at 27 month to confirm progression defined by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Secondary analyses aim to explore the time course of changes in motor parameters and performance of the novel definition against different alternative definitions of progression in MS. The study was registered at Deutsches Register für Klinische Studien (DRKS00027042). Discussion: The study design presented here investigates disease progression defined by marker-less home-based assessment of motor functions against 3-month confirmed disease progression (3 m-CDP) defined by the EDSS. The technical approach was chosen due to previous experience in lab-based settings. The observation time per participant of 24, respectively, 27 months is commonly conceived as the lower limit needed to study disability progression. Defining a valid digital motor outcome for disease progression in MS may help to reduce observation times in clinical trials and add confidence to the detection of progression events in MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) face recognition approach for depth data captured by Kinect based on a combination of speeded up robust features (SURF) and k-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithms. First, the shape index maps of the preprocessed 3D faces of the training gallery are computed, then the SURF feature vectors are extracted and used to form the dictionary. In the recognition process, we propose an improved KNN classifier to find the best match. The evaluation was performed using CurtinFaces and KinectFaceDB data sets, achieving rank-1 recognition rates of 96.78% and 94.23%, respectively, when using two samples per person for training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the current lack of innovation in Chinese ceramic culture, this paper proposes an inheritance and innovation path combining ceramic digitization technology and ceramic virtual display technology. Based on the three-dimensional morphology reconstruction technology method, using a three-dimensional scanner in different groups of lamps under the scanning pottery plastic to obtain point cloud data, using an iterative proximity point algorithm to achieve point cloud data alignment, and obtaining a complete three-dimensional model of pottery plastic. Then, we propose the ceramic virtual display technology based on Kinect, using Kinect to capture human motion data, designing somatosensory interaction subjects, expanding Kinect human-computer interaction actions, and providing an interactive and experiential ceramic culture display. Using ceramic digital technology to build three-dimensional digital modeling of the five famous kilns in China, the simulation effect evaluation score is greater than 80 points, of which the Gao kiln has the highest average score of 90 points. The use of ceramic virtual display technology to construct a virtual ceramic museum of the Maritime Silk Road demonstrates good system performance. In each satisfaction evaluation factor, the online visitors exhibit a general, satisfied, or very satisfied attitude, with a proportion exceeding 60%.

Augmented reality (AR) technology has rapidly advanced across various domains, propelled by its robust interactive immersion and the seamless integration of real and virtual environments. However, its exploration and deployment in theatrical contexts remain limited. This study leverages the Kinect system to capture images during costume performances, employing algorithms for dynamic frame difference merging and human-computer interaction to detect performers’ body movements. Building on this, the study constructs a visually innovative stage for costume performances that enhances the interactive experience for the audience. Additionally, a multimodal emotion analysis model is utilized to assess audience emotions, demonstrating significantly higher accuracy and F1 scores compared to other emotion analysis models. This model effectively integrates speech, expression, and action, surpassing the performance of unimodal analyses in emotion recognition. Furthermore, the audience's experiential perception of stage lighting effects notably exceeds expectations (P=0.013 < 0.05), underscoring an enhanced interaction experience. This research substantiates the transformative potential of AR technology in stage design, offering audiences a more innovative visual and interactive experience, and serves as a valuable reference for future applications in this field.

The integration of digital media art into the public art design of the smart city can enhance people’s participation and sense of identity in the art design of public space and maximize the attractiveness and cultural connotation of the city itself. Based on this, this paper builds a fusion technology framework mainly based on digital projection technology and digital interaction technology, proposes an interactive projection technology integrating digital projection and Kinect, and combines the dynamic scene image splicing and alignment fusion technology to realize the interaction between the user and the digital scene. In the case analysis of Qianjiang New City, the number of visitors reached 31.55 million in 2022. The evaluation score of landscape facilities in the public evaluation of architectural landscape is under 3.5. The overall evaluation grade is only “general,” and the evaluation mean value of the degree of intelligence of landscape facilities is only 3.089. The comprehensive evaluation satisfaction of the digital landscape includes multimedia landscape, architectural landscape, and landscape facilities, and the average value of the evaluation of the degree of intelligence of the landscape facilities is only 3.089. The satisfaction value of the multimedia landscape, landscape of buildings and structures, and water landscape in the evaluation of satisfaction is 4.36, 4.159, and 4.027, respectively, which reaches the level of “good” satisfaction, while the satisfaction value of landscape facilities is 3.479, which is less than 3.5. The satisfaction level only reaches the level of “general.” The satisfaction value of landscape facilities is 3.479, which is less than 3.5, and the satisfaction level is only “fair.”

Face orientation recognition is a crucial component of human behavior analysis. Challenges such as face occlusion and varying lighting conditions frequently degrade recognition accuracy. This study introduces an innovative approach using the Kinect sensor’s skeleton tracking technology to capture face orientation images across different lighting scenarios. To enhance image quality, techniques such as light attenuation and compensation are applied. Furthermore, multiple feature vectors based on face orientation are extracted and fused, followed by the optimization of the Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) model through the Archimedean Optimization Algorithm (AOA). The developed AOA-ELM model for face orientation recognition is compared with traditional models, including Back Propagation (BP), Radial Basis Function (RBF), standard ELM, and Genetic Algorithm enhanced ELM (GA-ELM). The AOA-ELM model exhibits superior performance in estimating face orientation amidst lighting disturbances, achieving an accuracy exceeding 95% in varied lighting conditions, thereby outperforming other classification models.

This paper combines Kinect and convolutional neural networks to construct a dance movement recognition technology based on 3D CNNs. Applying dance movement recognition technology to dance teaching builds a new mode of training dance talents in colleges and universities. The role of Kinect in recognizing dance movements is explored from three aspects: real-time motion capture, human skeleton tracking, and information input. The dance movement image is computerized by calculating the depth of the points using stereo analysis. To analyze dance movements and classify them by features, a convolutional neural network is combined. Based on two-dimensional convolutional neural networks, three-dimensional convolutional neural networks have been constructed, which improve the comprehensiveness of dance movement information. By combining dance movement recognition technology with dance talent cultivation, we analyze the students’ professional dance ability and the teaching effect under the new talent cultivation mode. The results show that the teaching effect of the dance talent cultivation mode combined with the movement recognition technology is better, and the percentage of students dance movements reaching the standard in a movement completion is 0.95. The professional ability of dance talent is 0.8 percent.

With the increasing prosperity of the cultural market, the dance culture industry is also developing rapidly. In the face of opportunities and challenges brought by dance industrialization, dance professionals trained by the traditional and single-skill training system of art colleges and universities expose the contradiction between supply and demand. In this paper, the SAA-training model is taken as the calculation tool, and the OBE and Kinect motion capture technology are combined to explore the construction and practice of the training system for dance professionals. The research shows that the training system of dance professionals can finally obtain three types of dance professionals. The first type is compound dance talents, accounting for about 33%. The second category consists of dancers with rich market experience, accounting for up to 46 percent. The third category is dance talent with innovative consciousness, limited by the existing training mode, its proportion is only 21 percent.

In this paper, a static gesture classification model based on a convolutional neural network is proposed to achieve the goal of efficient interaction control and fast response time for gesture recognition, and hand feature extraction is achieved by using alternating convolution and pooling. In the convolutional neural network, image data is obtained by preprocessing operations such as adaptive thresholding and functions such as Gaussian filtering to provide data for the convolutional neural network structure to build the recognition model, which is used to quantify the edge characteristics of the image and construct the image edges with gradient amplitude to build the static gesture recognition algorithm for Kinect. In the accuracy rate for gesture interaction, the average recognition rate for slow movement is 96.5%, while when the interactive gesture is recognized at an accelerated speed, its recognition rate slips to 93.1%, and the total average recognition rate reaches 95.2%.

BackgroundOutcome measures for non-ambulant Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients are limited, with only the Performance of the Upper Limb (PUL) approved as endpoint for clinical trials.ObjectiveWe assessed four outcome measures based on devices developed for the gaming industry, aiming to overcome disadvantages of observer-dependency and motivation.MethodsTwenty-two non-ambulant DMD patients (range 8.6-24.1 years) and 14 healthy controls (HC; range 9.5-25.4 years) were studied at baseline and 16 patients at 12 months using Leap Motion to quantify wrist/hand active range of motion (aROM) and a Kinect sensor for reached volume with Ability Captured Through Interactive Video Evaluation (ACTIVE), Functional Workspace (FWS) summed distance to seven upper extremity body points, and trunk compensation (KinectTC). PUL 2.0 was performed in patients only. A stepwise approach assessed quality control, construct validity, reliability, concurrent validity, longitudinal change and patient perception.ResultsLeap Motion aROM distinguished patients and HCs for supination, radial deviation and wrist flexion (range p = 0.006 to

The elderly population experiences a decline in upper extremity range of motion (ROM), impairing activities of daily living. The primary mode of quantification is by goniometer measurement. In this cross-sectional observation study, we investigate a sensor-acquired reachable workspace for assessing shoulder ROM decline in an elderly population in comparison to traditional measurements. Sixty-one healthy subjects aged ≥ 65 years were included and compared to a cohort of 39 younger subjects, aged 20 to 64. A sensor acquired reachable workspace using a Kinect motion capture camera measured the maximum reaching ability of both arms while in a seated position, measured in m2 and normalized to arm length to calculate a novel score defined as a relative surface area. This score approximates range of motion in the upper extremity. This measurement was compared to goniometer measurements, including active ROM in shoulder flexion and abduction. Total RSA shows moderate to strong correlation between goniometer in flexion and abduction in the dominant arm (R = 0.790 and R = 0.650, P < .001, respectively) and moderate correlations for the nondominant arm (R = 0.622 and R = 0.615, P < .001). Compared to the younger cohort, the elderly population demonstrated significantly reduced total RSA in the dominant arm (meanelderly = 0.774, SD = 0.09; meanyounger = 0.830, SD = 0.07, P < .001), with significant reductions in the upper lateral quadrant in both arms (dominant: meanelderly = 0.225, SD = 0.04; meanyounger = 0.241, SD = 0.01; P < .001; nondominant: meanelderly = 0.213, SD = 0.03; meanyounger = 0.228, SD = 0.01; P = .004). The test-retest reliability was strong for both dominant and nondominant total RSA (ICC > 0.762). The reachable workspace demonstrates promise as a simple and quick tool for clinicians to assess detailed and quantitative active shoulder ROM decline in the elderly population.