Mobile Motion Tracking for Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation Using Apple ARKit.

BACKGROUND Physical activity helps improve the overall quality of life. The correct execution of physical activity is crucial both in sports as well as disease prevention and rehabilitation. Little to no automated commodity solutions for automated analysis and feedback exist. OBJECTIVES Validation of the Apple ARKit framework as a solution for automatic body tracking in daily physical exercises using the smartphones' built-in camera. METHODS We deliver insights into ARKit's body tracking accuracy through a lab experiment against the VICON system as Gold Standard. We provide further insights through case studies using apps built on ARKit. RESULTS ARKit exposes significant limitations in tracking the full range of motion in joints but accurately tracks the movement itself. Case studies show that applying it to measure the quantity of execution of exercises is possible. CONCLUSION ARKit is a light-weight commodity solution for quantitative assessment of physical activity. Its limitations and possibilities in qualitative assessment need to be investigated further.