Motion Capture Technology Makes Ergonomics Assessments Simple 

Motion capture software can sound like a complex thing to use and understand, but it can actually be quite simple. In this post, we’ll walk you through taking a video of a job task to upload into VelocityEHS Industrial Ergonomics software, which utilizes machine learning and sensorless motion capture technology. This is an easy and more accurate way of capturing body postures during your ergonomics assessment process, which will give you precise musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk levels to address with less need for advanced assessment experience.

What You Need to Perform an Accurate Ergonomics Assessment 

To accurately capture, analyze and assess the postures of the operator during a task, this motion capture technology doesn’t require any physical sensors or wires. All you need is a smartphone or tablet that can shoot video with a minimum resolution of 1080p or 30 frames per second. Phone cameras can shoot in 4k or 8k, but increasing the resolution or framerate will increase the size of the file – without improving the quality of data.

Ensuring that there’s enough battery charge and storage on the device will help the assessment process go smoothly. Accessories like selfie sticks and pop sockets can also help access alternative views, as well as reduce grip forces for the person recording the video.

Helpful Tips When Recording the Operator 

Before any filming takes place, you need to make sure you have permission from the operator who will be in the assessment. Privacy options are available if the operator would prefer, such as face or body blurring when the video is processed in the software.

When filming, only one operator should be in the frame and centered to include all parts of the body. You may need to zoom out, or back up a bit, to ensure that all the operator’s movements stay in the frame; you can also move around the operator as they perform the task – as long as you can do so safely. You want to ensure that you’re recording the operator’s side profile to capture the operator bending forward and backwards. All the operator’s zippers should be zipped, all buttons buttoned, and any loose clothing removed to obtain the most accurate results with the assessment.  

Easy-to-Understand Results  

The video, which should be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long, can be uploaded directly to the software for processing. It can also be uploaded to a shared drive, airdropped to a computer or shared through a file transfer cable to be processed (uploading from the device is the preferred method). Avoid emailing the video, as this decreases its quality, which may cause errors in the assessment. Once it’s uploaded, the video can process in the software, and in a matter of minutes, you’ll have the results of the ergonomics job assessment. 

With VelocityEHS Industrial Ergonomics, you only need two simple things – a smartphone/tablet and an operator – to have high-quality, accurate MSD risk level data. With this information, you’ll know which aspects of the task/areas need improvement, so that you can keep your employees safe from MSDs.