Thread Subject:

Creating Vectors and Finding the angle

Im using motion analysis to determine the angle of the arm during an activity. I have the (x,y,z) coordinates of the shoulder, elbow and wrist. How can i turn these into vectors and determine the angle?

"Peter" wrote in message <j98uv3$9f4$1@newscl01ah.mathworks.com>...
> Im using motion analysis to determine the angle of the arm during an activity. I have the (x,y,z) coordinates of the shoulder, elbow and wrist. How can i turn these into vectors and determine the angle?

Angle relative to what?

To turn them into vectors, read the file they are stored in into Matlab. They will then be a list of vectors stored in a matrix.

Im trying to find the angle that is formed between the upper arm and forearm.

"Peter" wrote in message <j98vem$bdm$1@newscl01ah.mathworks.com>...
> Im trying to find the angle that is formed between the upper arm and forearm.

No problem then, if you just write out the few vector equations to do this it will be very easy to implement in Matlab. If you write out the equations, and where you're having trouble, I'm sure someone here will help you implement them.

"Peter" wrote in message <j98uv3$9f4$1@newscl01ah.mathworks.com>...
> Im using motion analysis to determine the angle of the arm during an activity. I have the (x,y,z) coordinates of the shoulder, elbow and wrist. How can i turn these into vectors and determine the angle?
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  If vs, ve, and vw are the x,y,z coordinate vectors for the shoulder, elbow, and wrist, respectively, then the angle (in radians) between the upper arm and the lower arm will be:

 a = atan2(cross(vw-ve,ve-vs),dot(vw-ve,ve-vs));

Roger Stafford

"Roger Stafford" wrote in message <j99k4g$pji$1@newscl01ah.mathworks.com>...
> a = atan2(cross(vw-ve,ve-vs),dot(vw-ve,ve-vs));
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  My previous reply was in error. The angle between the two parts of the arm is:

 a = atan2(abs(cross(vw-ve,vs-ve)),dot(vw-ve,vs-ve));

It should range between 0 and pi, 0 for an arm completely bent and pi for a straight arm.

Roger Stafford

"Roger Stafford" wrote in message <j99ljd$1as$1@newscl01ah.mathworks.com>...
> a = atan2(abs(cross(vw-ve,vs-ve)),dot(vw-ve,vs-ve));
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  My apologies. I made another error. I was thinking of the two-dimensional case. The answer should have been:

 a = atan2(norm(cross(vw-ve,vs-ve)),dot(vw-ve,vs-ve));

Roger Stafford

when you mean vs,ve and vw you mean the coordinates opf each point?

My apoligies, i failed to read all of the previous posts, when i do that i get a=# # #
where # is a number