3D Graphics

This animation was created to supplement a study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Ryan L. Kobrick, PhD entitled 'Using inertial measurement units for measuring spacesuit mobility and work envelope capability for intravehicular and extravehicular activities.' It was designed to simulate elbow flexion measurement tests in which four Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) were placed on both the inside and outside of a pressurized first-generation David Clark Company Contingency Hypobaric Astronaut Protective Suit (CHAPS). Rotation quaternions were recorded from each IMU, then mathematically converted into internal and external relative Euler angles of the elbow. A significant deviation between the internal and external angles was observed, a difference which allows us to quantify the flexibility of the suit. This demonstrates one of the many ways in which IMUs can be used to accurately measure spacesuit mobility. The animation provides a graphical emulation of the testing, in which three elbow flexions were performed by a subject in the pressurized suit. During the third flexion, motion is paused, and the emulated suit geometry is cross-sectioned to reveal a divergence of the arm angle from the suit angle. Suit modeling, animation, and rendering, were done in Autodesk Maya, and MakeHuman, a procedural human geometry generator, was used to create the geometry of the subject. Additionally, two-dimensional graphics were superimposed using Adobe Photoshop and Autodesk Composite.