A PCA-based bio-motion generator to synthesize new patterns of human running

Abstract

Synthesizing human movement is useful for most applications where the use of avatars is required. These movements should be as realistic as possible and thus must take into account anthropometric characteristics (weight, height, etc.), gender, and the performance of the activity being developed. The aim of this study is to develop a new methodology based on the combination of principal component analysis and partial least squares regression model that can generate realistic motion from a set of data (gender, anthropometry and performance). A total of 18 volunteer runners have participated in the study. The joint angles of the main body joints were recorded in an experimental study using 3D motion tracking technology. A five-step methodology has been employed to develop a model capable of generating a realistic running motion. The described model has been validated for running motion, showing a highly realistic motion which fits properly with the real movements measured. The described methodology could be applied to synthesize any type of motion: walking, going up and down stairs, etc. In future work, we want to integrate the motion in realistic body shapes, generated with a similar methodology and from the same simple original data.