LONDON: Oxford Metrics plc, the international software company servicing government, life sciences, entertainment and engineering markets, announced that Vicon, a world leader in motion measurement, has today announced the release of Blue Trident, a lightweight wearable sensor, and focal point of a new ecosystem designed to advance assessment and rehabilitation techniques in sports, biomechanics and research.

Using the new sensor, anyone from athletes in the field to biomechanists in the lab can record data before processing it through one of three options:

  • Vicon Capture.U iOS app – all new app to perform real-time analysis of arm, spine and lower limb data for sports scientists, biomechanists, physiotherapists and sports teams, from elite to grass roots
  • IMU Step – lower limb monitoring tool to aid return-to-play and reduce reinjury risk for athletes and trainers in collegiate & pro team 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

Created with a combination of Vicon’s 35 years of industry-leading motion capture R&D and expertise in inertial tracking, 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 an improved battery life capable of up to 12 hours of use.

Blue Trident’s stand-out feature is the dual-g sensor. This combines a high-g sensor capable of capturing the peaks of physical movement up to 200g, the highest levels of data capture available, with a low-g sensor working up to 16g to track lower stress movements. Together, they measure simultaneously, ensuring the highest fidelity data and avoiding sensor saturation.

Applications are wide, with the sensors and software being applicable in many sports, including basketball, rugby and football, as well as cricket and for the first time with Blue Trident, swimming.

 “Motion capture is fast becoming an essential tool for elite sports training and injury rehabilitation. It enables coaches to gain an objective measure of the load athletes endure during training, helping them optimise performance and accelerate return to play.” said Nick Bolton, CEO of Oxford Metrics.

“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.”