Computer vision for kinematic metrics of the drinking task in a pilot study of neurotypical participants

Assessment of the upper limb is critical to guiding the rehabilitation cycle. Drawbacks of observation-based assessment include subjectivity and coarse resolution of ordinal scales. Kinematic assessment gives rise to objective quantitative metrics, but uptake is encumbered by costly and impractical setups. Our objective was to investigate feasibility and accuracy of computer vision (CV) for acquiring kinematic metrics of the drinking task, which are recommended in stroke rehabilitation research. We implemented CV for upper limb kinematic assessment using modest cameras and an open-source machine learning solution. To explore feasibility, 10 neurotypical participants were recruited for repeated kinematic measures during the drinking task. To investigate accuracy, a simultaneous marker-based motion capture system was used, and error was quantified for the following kinematic metrics: Number of Movement Units (NMU), Trunk Displacement (TD), and Movement Time (MT). Across all participant trials, kinematic metrics of the drinking task were successfully acquired using CV. Compared to marker-based motion capture, no significant difference was observed for group mean values of kinematic metrics. Mean error for NMU, TD, and MT were − 0.12 units, 3.4 mm, and 0.15 s, respectively. Bland–Altman analysis revealed no bias. Kinematic metrics of the drinking task can be measured using CV, and preliminary findings support accuracy. Further study in neurodivergent populations is needed to determine validity of CV for kinematic assessment of the post-stroke upper limb.