


Classical studies were focused mainly on white men, while in recent years, the available data on body segments have been extended to children, women, and other races. It emerges that data obtained in studies on cadaveric specimens are still accurate in comparison to more recent technologies, whilst technological tools currently available are manifolds, each one with proper advantages and disadvantages. The present review examines the literature concerning human body segments’ properties for biomechanical purposes starting with a historical examination. Graphical, optical, x-ray and derived techniques, MRI, laser, thermography, has been employed for in-vivo measurement, while direct measurements involve cadaveric studies with dissection and various methods of acquiring shape and size of body segments. Given that many methods are employed, it is important to know which ones are currently available, which data on human body masses, lengths, center of mass (COM) location, weights and moment of inertia (MOI) are available and which methods are most suitable for specific research purposes. The knowledge of human body proportions and segmental properties of limbs, head and trunk is of fundamental importance in biomechanical research. The results are then proven experimentally by balancing the analyzed objects about the identified point. Moreover, the program is also able to successfully mark the centroids of arbitrary shapes, meaning that it is applicable to any possible planar object. For geometric bodies, the results produced by the program are aligned with those predicted by integral calculations. Thus, it is decided to write a Python-based program that would implement computer vision techniques to scan through images depicting different objects and locate their centroids. However, solving for the center of mass by hand is not only quite tedious, but also inapplicable to objects of arbitrary shape. For several shapes that can be represented as regions bounded by graphs of functions, this point can be found by using integral calculus.
#Automatic center of mass finder how to#
The paper shows how to devise a fast and convenient way of locating the centroid of planar objects of different shapes. Allowing representing complex bodies as a single point, this concept is underlying the basis of all essential mechanical calculations, and is therefore a crucial consideration in engineering. The center of mass of a rigid body is a unique point that represents the mean position of all matter that composes it.
