Top Ten Uses for Polhemus Micro Sensor

Posted: May 17, 2018

What Would You Use That Tiny Micro Sensor For?

That’s a question that’s been asked of us more than once on the trade show floor. For many of our existing customers, our standard-sized sensor meets their motion tracking needs and it’s the solution they’ve been looking for. We’ve seen our standard sensor creatively mounted on many different types of objects for tracking needs. For these customers who are happy with our standard sensors, a tiny sensor means only one thing to them—it’s the same thing, but smaller. This prompts them to ask, “So what would you use that tiny Micro Sensor™ for?” It’s a logical question.

Embeddable 6DOF Tracking Sensor Solution for Healthcare Market

The idea for the Micro Sensor came from a customer in the healthcare market who needed to track a catheter feed. The sensor needed to be small—really small, sporting a 1.8 OD (outer diameter). It needed to have the capability to track in full 6DOF (6 Degrees-of-Freedom) while being inside the catheter tube. That’s right—full position and orientation tracking while embedded inside a tube. For this reason, the best choice was electromagnetic tracking.

Medical Applications, Hand and Finger Tracking…and More

Although we created the Micro Sensor for a specific purpose in the healthcare market, we saw that it had the potential for a broader range of uses. We quickly recognized there were many other types of applications that could benefit from a smaller, lightweight sensor. Although the Micro Sensor is perfect for many other types of medical applications, it’s become the perfect solution for hand and finger tracking and much more.

Our team began to explore other areas where the Micro Sensor could be used. Although we came up with a lot of different potential applications, our customers have driven the true innovation with their varied uses for “the micros.” Their ideas have truly brought the Micro Sensor to life. Since its initial development, the Micro Sensor has been used in so many ways, but we’ve narrowed the list to ten uses to answer the question, “What would you use that tiny Micro Sensor for?”

Ten Uses for the Polhemus Micro Sensor

It’s so lightweight, it’s great for many types head tracking, including attaching to a pair of eyeglasses, or tracking an HMD (Head Mounted Display).
It's perfect for hand tracking and can measure the subtle and precise hand and finger movements of a Parkinson’s patient.
It can track the skilled hands of a surgeon for use with a surgical simulator.
It works great for VR/AR hand and finger tracking because there are no line-of-sight issues and no special lighting conditions required.
It can be used in dental applications for training and simulation, including dental xray training.
The tracking is so robust, it can perform hand and finger tracking for the quick movements of a world-class guitarist!
While we are on a music theme, it can track the hands and fingers of a well-trained concert pianist.
Yes. It can track fingers under gloves—we get asked this a lot!
It can be used in image guided surgery. Using a tip-offset method, the instrument doesn’t even have to enter the body. Pretty cool.
The Micro Sensor can measure the movements of hands and fingers for biomechanics, ergonomics, and rehabilitation studies—to sub-millimeter accuracy.

How are you using the Polhemus Micro Sensor? We love hearing from our customers!