On Belay – APDM Goes Rock Climbing
Andrea Cereatti, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Sassari in Italy, is doing interesting research with APDM technology.
In the past, Cereatti has used an APDM Opal system as a powerful instrumented gait analysis tool to assess motor capacity and performance. Several articles have been published on this research, including studies of Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, Stroke, and elderly populations. He recently showcased the system’s adaptability in his favorite sport – rock climbing.
Cereatti used APDM Opals for better insight into a difficult climb in Codula Fuili, Sardinia.
He explains “This climbing route starts with a very long jump move, and the climber has to reach the target hold with almost zero vertical velocity.”
By placing an Opal on the lower back (lumbar region), Cereatti was able to collect information on the trajectory of climber Marco Corda’s center of mass and the power generated during his push-off. The data collection helps show the reasons behind Marco’s failure or success.
“The idea behind the experiments we performed was to provide a proof of concept and to show the new possibilities offered by miniaturized sensors and advanced processing techniques. …the same techniques and instrumentation we used to process the climbing data have been used to analyze gait and (are) published in several international journals.”
Cereatti’s climbing experiment is a grand example of the capabilities of an APDM Opal system.
- Its portability allows Cereatti to travel outside of a lab environment to record data in context.
- Cereatti is able to see the quality of movement, rather than simply the quantity.
- The affordability matched with untethered data capture makes it a uniquely powerful tool that outshines other motion capture systems.
