Research equipment
Tracked Track System
Tandem treadmill with tandem treadmill design with a maximum speed of 20 km / h, tiltable, dimensions 203 (L) x 112 (W) x 125 (H) cm, 400 kg.
Capacity of the vertical force platform of 8800 N and horizontal of 4500 N.
Vicon ® Infrared Camera System
Eight infrared cameras Vicon Vero V2.2, 2.2 MP, 330Hz with weight of 0.57 kg and upgradeable firmware.
Emed® platform
The Emed® (Novel, Munich, Germany) pressure platform developed for measure plantar pressure and contact forces on the foot. Equipped with two capacitive sensors by square centimetre, highly reliable.
Emed-n50 pressure platform with dimensions 700 (L) x 403 (W) x 15.5 (H) cm. With four sensors per cm2 and 6080 sensors capture at the frequency of 50 Hz sensitive to pressures from 10 to 1270 kPa.
Ankle ergometer NEG1 (OT Bioelettronica)
The ankle ergometer features two different load cells: 10kg and 100kg. A 10kg cell is used for measurements under contractions generated by electrical impulses or forces generated at low levels. The 100kg cell allows to measure the force in the maximum isometric contractions and forces generated at high levels.
High Density Electromyograph (OTBioelettronica)
We have a 256 channel electromyography equipment, model EMG-USB2 (Italy), which is used to acquire signals from arrays of 4 and 8 sensors and from 64 matrix sensors, allowing the spatiotemporal discrimination of the degree of electrical activity from the muscle fibers. This tool also has 16 auxiliary channels for acquiring data from other equipment, allowing signal synchronization from other sources. Access the OTBioelettronica site at: http://www.otbioelettronica.it/
Electromyography equipment – model 800RF (EMG System do Brasil)
We have the Electromyography equipment (model 800RF) with 8 channels and 16 bits resolution. This wireless equipment presents a surface electromyography signal acquisition by telemetry with minimized inherent transmission interference.
Electromyograph 800C (EMG System do Brasil)
LaBiMPH owns an 8 channel surface electromyography equimpent, model EMG800C, with individual modules with 4 channels, which allows the acquisition of surface electromyography signals. This equipment allows the simultaneous observation of electromyography signals and the physical quantities involved in the movement since it has two channels for analogic synchronization. Access EMG System do Brasil website at: http://www.emgsystem.com.br/
Optitrack ® Infrared Camera System
The Optitrack ® Infrared Camera System (Natural Point, USA) can capture three-dimensional tracks of passive-reflective markers attached to the body for kinematic evaluation of the movement. This system is made of 6 infrared cameras, reflective markers and tools for the calibration of the volume of data acquisition. The digitalization is automatic and the reconstruction is executed by a dedicated software: AMASS, also propriety of the laboratory. The NaturalPoint/Optitrack’s website link is: http://www.naturalpoint.com/optitrack/
Pliance® cylinder mat
Pliance® cylinder mat (Novel, Munich, Germany) specifically designed for measurements of pressure distribution and contact forces of the female pelvic floor. The calibrated, accurate and reliable capacitive sensors are elastic and arranged in a matrix (10×10), which conforms to 3-dimensional shapes enabling accurate measurements of load distribution and pressure distribution on soft surfaces.
Vaginal dynamometer (EMG System do Brazil)
Equipment designed to measure the intravaginal grasping strength of the pelvic floor muscles using a load cell (0 to 20 Kgf).
Hip adduction/abduction dynamometer
This equipment was built in Labimph, specifically for measuring isometric hip abduction and adduction, with a traction and compression load cell (-100 to 100Kgf), thigh support and velcro straps.
Sistema Pedar X da Novel®
One of LaBiMPH’s equipment is the Novel® Pedar System (Munich, Germany) which captures and measures the plantar pressure distribution under the feet in static or dynamic conditions. This equipment is made of flexible and thin insoles with capacitive sensors that can be put inside of the patients/subjects’ footwear or socks. Data analysis is performed by specific programs, designed by Novel (Novel Projects), also property of the laboratory. Novel’s website can be accessed at: http://www.novel.de/
Force platform (AMTI
Other equipment also widely used in our research with human locomotion is an AMTI OR6-7 force platform (AMTI, USA), which allows us to measure the three force components, their corresponding moments and the coordinates of the COP. The forces and moments are measured by a sheet of strain gauges cells. The output signal from the power platform is then directed to an analog amplifier (MAS-6, AMTI system) and the analog signal is converted to digital for further analysis of the data in specific programs also owned by LaBiMPH. This system (AMTI 32-channel bourneira) also allows the synchronization of 26 other analog channels. The AMTI website can be accessed at http://www.amti.biz
Electrogoniometers
Our laboratory owns three Biometrics flexible biaxial electrogoniometers (Bimoetrics, UK). The SG150 model allows the assessment of flexion/extension and adduction/abduction movements of hip and knee, and the SG110/A model allows the evaluation of flexion/extension and inversion/eversion movements of the ankle and foot complex. Biometrics website may be accessed at: http://www.biometricsltd.com/
Softwares for biomechanical and gait analysis and mathematical/statistical analysis
- AMTI Net Force e BioAnalysis Software (AMTI, EUA)
- Matlab 8.0
- Minitab 14
- Statistica 8.0
- Origin 8.0 Professional
- SPSS 12
- Novel Projects (Database Pro, Pedar Online Standart, Multimask, Creation of Any Mask, Emascii, Goup editor, Groupmask) http://novel.de/novelcontent/
- Visual 3D (C-Motion) http://www.c-motion.com/products/visual3d/
- AMASS (C-Motion) http://www.c-motion.com/products/amass/