#gait forensics

On Podcast 17 (click here for a link to our iTunes account) we mentioned and shared a brief snippet from a recent Nova Now (video.pbs.org) entitled "How the Brain Works". In this podcast we discuss astrophysicist extraordinaire Neil DeGrasse Tyson's thoughts on how vision can fool us because of 2 basic types of neuroreceptors, one that detects motion while the other suppresses the background. This occurs when we are tracking an object in something called smooth pursuit.  In other words, the brain doesn't pay attention to everything our eyes look at.  The brain just cannot process all of the visual information accurately. This is a handicap as a human. It is what can make us good at some aspects of vision and less good at others, the question is "Can this be taught and refined ?"  Great basketball players for example can see the the entire court and see plays developing. Wayne Gretzky was also reportedly great at this. This is what led him to say "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where the puck currently is."  Watch any youth soccer  game and you will see just the opposite. You will see a hoard of little arms and legs all huddled around the soccer ball, no play is developing rather they are all in the moment competing to get the soccer ball.

Why are we talking about this from this perspective ?  Well there have been continued developments in the government's gait recognition software, something we refer to as "Gait Forensics".  Here are 2 links.

1. http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_now-cameras-can-identify-thieves-from-their-walk_1743650

2. http://rt.com/news/identify-walk-system-britain-668/

Computers will likely have the advantage of gathering all of the info on a persons gait. It will not get caught up on the face or the clothes, there will be no discrimination. The software will likely capture head carriage, arm swing, stride length, step length, cadence, postural characteristics and so much more.  It will be more information than the human will likely be able to process because computers will not likely suppress any aspects of a persons gait like we mentioned in the opening paragraphs of this blog piece. To the computer, all  parameters will have equal and top priority, at least in gathering information.  Interpretation remains another matter. But we are most sure that in time that too will be ironed out.

Bigfoot Gait. Yup, taking a look at the "big guy".  The famous Patterson video.

Man or Ape? That is the question ! Lets see what can be noticed :

protracted head, shoulders and a forward and downward drop of the anterior rib cage through probable weak upper abdominals

internally rotated upper limbs with excessive forward arm swing (overswing, likely pulling/flexing too much from the pectorals to drive arm swing as opposed to driving normal pendular arm swing from triceps extension)

no hip extension during gait, (see #2 above. Without adequate triceps use/posterior arm swing the degree of hip extension/gluteal use cannot be optimized.

These are clearly attributes of a animal that has moved from quadipedal gait to bipedal before they have earned the postural right to do so.

Just like any modern man,  as evidenced by clear observance of said gait in the local mall or airport, most of modern man has difficulties with the degree of motor coordination and postural control necessary to walk with clean upright biomechanics.  Most modern gait exhibits the pathologies we discussed above. So, this must be a man in an ape suit then, right ? The only problem is that this film was from 1967 ! Clearly we know that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were not doing their thing at that time, and people were not driving that much nor sitting in board rooms as much as they do now. So the question remains, if this is a man how did he get so posturally imploded ? Unless of course, he was trying to walk like a bipedal monkey.  The only problem there is that ape contra-body movements (symmetrical fluid opposite arm-leg swing) are not this clean even though this is pretty poor gait for a human.  So, either this is a non-computer age man trying to walk like an experienced ape, or, this is bigfoot.

There you go, we successfully made no progress in our forensic analysis to help in the mystery of bigfoot.  Then again, no one has.  National Geographic has a something else to say....... read on.

article: Forensic Expert says Bigfoot is real. (click for link)

From the article....."It's been the subject of campfire stories for decades. A camera-elusive, grooming-challenged, bipedal ape-man that roams the mountain regions of North America. Some call it Sasquatch. Others know it as Bigfoot.

Chilcutt says one footprint found in 1987 in Walla Walla in Washington State has convinced him that Bigfoot is real.

"The ridge flow pattern and the texture was completely different from anything I've ever seen," he said. "It certainly wasn't human, and of no known primate that I've examined. The print ridges flowed lengthwise along the foot, unlike human prints, which flow across. The texture of the ridges was about twice the thickness of a human, which indicated that this animal has a real thick skin."

Renowned chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall last year surprised an interviewer from National Public Radio when she said she was sure that large, undiscovered primates, such as the Yeti or Sasquatch, exist."

click the link above to read the whole article.

Trust us, this will be something we will see in time.  This brief newsflash talked about foot plantar pressure representations, but as Ivo and I know...... there is so much more to the overall gait patterning. We know, we look at it everyday.

According to the brief article, "Researchers at the University of Liverpool analyzed more than 100,000 pressure points people's feet create when they walk and came up with about 70 patterns said to be unique to any one individual, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The researchers said the findings could add another type of "biometric" identification in addition to retinal scanning and fingerprints at airports and in other security settings."

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/10/10/Study-How-you-walk-can-identify-you/UPI-96891318285793/#ixzz1axvvfVAO

Gait Forensics labs....... you might want to look at our body of work...... we kinda know what we are doing. 

Imagine you are a wanted criminal or terrorist. You know that in the soon-to-be police state that America is leaning towards, there will be cameras on every corner, in every building, on every public transportation service. Heck, it is in many of these places already.  So, what is a criminal to do ?  Hiding their identity was once the way but it is coming to an end because of the improving facial recognition computer programs currently being used. A once simple process of growing some facial hair, wearing sunglasses, changing haircut or color, wear hats is coming to an end.  Still, there are so many other ways criminals can hide amongst us and from the pending camera-happy America that we are soon becoming.  So, what is America's next step to stay ahead of all this ?

Yup, why not begin a database of gait traits that can be identified; sort of like an AFIS for feet? After all, people do have different foot types, and combining that with gait patterns provides unique clues to an what makes us unique.

In the above article , "A team of New York University researchers has honed in on motion capture as a particularly promising approach to analysis. Associate computer science professor Chris Bregler is studying whether potential security threats can be identified via unique patterns of movement. How might someone walk if he was carrying a bomb in his backpack?" "A person's body moves differently when it must compensate for some unnatural burden, such as a heavy backpack or even high-heeled shoes, says Bregler."

"Bregler and his team have identified certain movement signatures with the help of the same motion-capture technology used for special effects in the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies."

In present day America, one unfamiliar with suicide bombers, we feel safe most of the time.  But as these guys are investigating, carrying excess weight that one is not typically accustomed to, could generate some traceable gait characteristics that a camera could pick up on. But the problem, as we see it, is that if the terrorists know what we are looking for, they can train themselves to adapt to the added weight.

It took a decade or more for facial recognition software to become perfected by the government.  It is so simple now that Facebook has thrust it upon all of our photo galleries.  So who knows, in another decade or so, all of our gait patterns could be mapped and logged for the government and the "next Facebook" phenomenon. 

Hopefully these companies will come calling on the guys of gait....... the experts.

Shawn and Ivo.......The Gait Guys

in the infamous words of Steven Tyler, ....."walk this way"....... or

the immortal words of James Taylor....."there's something in the way she moves ....."

want more from the article ?  here is the link below