About the Project !
For this project, we were given the task of discovering what the relationship between the height and the gait frequency for walking humans is. We began by downloading a walking app named “Physics Toolbox Accelerometer”. We then taped a phone, with the downloaded app, to our chests to create a central axis and performed three trials per person where we walked 545 meters. During the trials, we recorded the data obtained from the app, the time it took to walk the set distance, the amount of steps, and the persons foot size, height, and stride length.
From our data we observed that Ben, who is the tallest, had the highest gFy (gravitational force downward) and Lara F., who is the shortest, had the smallest gFy. In addition we found that Lara F. had the highest gFx, meaning she had the highest gait frequency. Therefore we concluded that as height increases, horizontal gravitational force decreases, meaning the taller the person is, the smaller their resulting gait frequency is and the larger their stride length is.
After concluding this, we were able to produce an equation for predicting other people’s gait frequencies as follows : =IF(B2>0.1, "short", IF(B2<0.1, "tall")). This predictive model categorizes people as either short or tall based on the analysis of their gFx. We tested this equation on each person’s three trials and found it to be successful.
We then wrote up a report on our data and discoveries and created a micro presentation.
From our data we observed that Ben, who is the tallest, had the highest gFy (gravitational force downward) and Lara F., who is the shortest, had the smallest gFy. In addition we found that Lara F. had the highest gFx, meaning she had the highest gait frequency. Therefore we concluded that as height increases, horizontal gravitational force decreases, meaning the taller the person is, the smaller their resulting gait frequency is and the larger their stride length is.
After concluding this, we were able to produce an equation for predicting other people’s gait frequencies as follows : =IF(B2>0.1, "short", IF(B2<0.1, "tall")). This predictive model categorizes people as either short or tall based on the analysis of their gFx. We tested this equation on each person’s three trials and found it to be successful.
We then wrote up a report on our data and discoveries and created a micro presentation.
Report :
Micro Presentation :
Content :
- Gait: The stride of a human as s/he moves his/her limbs.
- Accelerometer: A device that measures the physical acceleration experienced by an object.
- Symmetry: In terms of gait analysis, the quantification of differences between left-foot and right-foot steps.
- Dynamicity: In terms of gait analysis, the quantification of variations in kinematic or kinetic parameters within a step.
- Metric: A quantitative indicator of a characteristic or attribute.
- Model: In technology, a description of observed or predicted behavior of some system, simplified by ignoring certain details. Models allow complex systems to be understood and their behavior predicted.
- Variability: In terms of gait analysis, the quantification of fluctuations from one stride to the next.
Reflection :
This project was very lengthy. It also overlapped with other projects we were doing which made it harder for our group to work on it together and communicate. However we were able to get all of our deadlines done on time and create a very thorough, well organized report and presentation. I thought I was able to budget my time very well in this project. It was hard to be working with two different groups on two different projects and then another one on top at the end, and be able to complete all of the work on time. I also thought a lot of the people in the group stepped up to their roles and took a lot of the heavy lifting. However I think for the next project, better communication would be essential. Since there was another project going on during this one, I felt a lot of my team was on different pages and we could have communicated better to fix that. I think this resulted in some members doing more work than others and so on. Perhaps next time, we could all get each other's number and check in or have quick meetings to see where everyone is at. Furthermore, towards the end of this project, half of my group was working on our possible next project while the other half of my group had class time to work on this project. This led to those working on this project in class to do more of the work. However in the end our project turned out great and we were able to create our predictive model.