Monitoring Method of Ball Rolling Motion with Quaternion-Based Signal Processing

In this study, we measured the rolling motion of a spherical six-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU) fabricated via FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) using wireless communication. When a sphere rolls on a plane, the axis of rotation is undefined, and the amount of rotation is unlimited. Therefore, the conventional Euler angular representation for pose estimation produces singular points (gimbal locks), and a continuous pose representation is not possible. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that incorporates micro-quaternions to achieve continuous posture representation, even at singular points. Subsequently, we discuss its applications.