The ability to accurately track a person’s body through a wearable motion tracking system is the stuff of Hollywood dreams. Well, more than dreams actually. That is how big budget studio pictures create fantastical characters such as Gollum and, um, Jar Jar Binks. The bad part, for the layman, is this is an expensive and obtuse process. Your average Joe with a webcam and a green screen could not hope to afford it. That could be set to change, if  Xsens has their say about it.
The company is busy prepping the world’s first consumer grade, totally wearable, 3D body motion tracking system. No longer will only the George Lucas’s of the world be able to lunge beloved characters such as Jar Jar Binks on the masses! We all will be able to get our Gungan on. They will be will be showcasing this 3D body motion tracking system, which is based on consumer-grade MEMS sensors, at CES 2013. This consumer electronics showcase is held in Las Vegas starting on January 8th.
The company is looking to license the technology which, in theory, will be able to be ported to smartphones, tablets and the like. Xsens says that the technology enables accurate, real-time tracking of body motion with one or more sensors connected to said smartphone. They also say the sensors are capable of delivering real-time 3D joint angles, position and velocity. Not bad! This tech would not only be useful for budding filmmakers. It would also be just the ticket for apps and games that require a system that recognizes and classifies complex motions, like sports games and pretending to be Tom Cruise’s character in Minority Report. Ok, just kidding about that last one. Check the video.
