Optimised procedure for the calibration of the force platform location

An innovative optimised method, including an experiment and a mathematical model, for the calibration of the force platform location in the optoelectronic reference frame is proposed. The calibration experiment adopts a bearing-marker testing object contacting the platform and does not directly measure the platform location. The experiment is designed in order to avoid the main drawbacks possibly occurring in commonly adopted methods. The mathematical model of the experiment estimates the expected ground reaction. An optimisation algorithm identifies the optimal platform location as the one that best matches the measured outcome of the calibration experiment with the corresponding model estimate. The innovative calibration procedure has been assessed in terms of inter-tester reliability and compared with commonly used calibration procedures of platform location. These results evidenced how the introduction of such optimised procedure could improve the reliability of the calibrated platform location and, consequently, of the kinetic variables considered in posture and gait analysis.