New tracking technology from Oxford Metrics to speed up sports injury rehabilitation
Oxford Metrics plc, Â the international software company serving the government, life sciences, entertainment and engineering markets has announced that its company, Vicon, a world leader in motion capture and measurement, has released Blue Trident, a lightweight wearable sensor, part of a new system designed to speed up assessment and rehabilitation techniques in sports, biomechanics and research.
Motion capture (mocap), which is fast becoming an essential tool for elite sports training and injury rehabilitation, records the movement of objects or people. The technology originated in the life science market to more accurately analysis how people walk and help them stay mobile for longer.It is now used widely by VFX studios, sports therapists, neuroscientists, and for validation and control of computer vision and robotics.
Using the new sensor, anyone from athletes to laboratory biomechanists can record data before processing it through one of three options:
- Vicon Capture.U iOS app – a new app to perform real-time analysis of arm, spine and lower limb data for sports scientists, biomechanists, physiotherapists and sports teams
- IMU Step – lower limb monitoring tool to reduce re-injury risk for athletes and trainers in running sports
- Vicon Nexus 2.10 software – integrates inertial data from Blue Trident with optical data, enabling biomechanics researchers to significantly expand the scope of their work
Blue Trident addresses the limitations of previous inertial sensors, beginning with the design. Each sensor is 25% smaller and lighter than existing inertial sensors, can be used underwater and offers better battery life capable of up to 12 hours of use.
Nick Bolton, CEO, Oxford Metrics, said:“Motion capture enables coaches to gain an objective measure of the load athletes endure during training, helping them optimise performance and accelerate return to play.
“For the first time, Blue Trident will enable the combination of data gathered in the field with data captured in the laboratory. This end-to-end ecosystem offers our customers an entirely new way to analyse human movement, expanding our addressable market and the scale of potential relationships with customers.”
Earlier this month, Oxford Metrics revealed its interim results ended March 31. The company delivers record revenue and double-digit revenue and earnings growth. Driving that performance was Vicon, which delivered revenue growth of 14%, securing deals with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and video game company Square Enix to consolidate its leadership position in the engineering and entertainment markets.
This year the company has seen the location-based virtual reality market really beginning to take off. The scale of this market is significant, its partners are now launching new locations across multiple geographies and we signed an exciting new partnership with virtual reality experience company Sandbox VR.
Nick Bolton added: "The focused investments we are making this year will help us to capture these new opportunities and launch new products to drive future growth. As we move into the second half, our pipeline of sales for both Yotta and Vicon is strong, underpinning our confidence in delivering in-line with market expectations for the full year.”
