# Transformer IMU Calibrator: Dynamic On-body IMU Calibration for Inertial Motion Capture

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.10580 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.10580/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 16 of its 45 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 12 Jun 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [AMASS: Archive of Motion Capture as Surface Shapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.03278/) (2019)
- [On the Continuity of Rotation Representations in Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.07035/) (2018)
- [BABEL: Bodies, Action and Behavior with English Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09696/) (2021)
- [AvatarPoser: Articulated Full-Body Pose Tracking from Sparse Motion Sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.13784/) (2022)
- [Avatars Grow Legs: Generating Smooth Human Motion from Sparse Tracking Inputs with Diffusion Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08577/) (2023)
- [Transformer Inertial Poser: Real-time Human Motion Reconstruction from Sparse IMUs with Simultaneous Terrain Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.15720/) (2022)
- [IMUPoser: Full-Body Pose Estimation using IMUs in Phones, Watches, and Earbuds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.12518/) (2023)
- [LoBSTr: Real-time Lower-body Pose Prediction from Sparse Upper-body Tracking Signals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.01500/) (2021)
- [Realistic Full-Body Tracking from Sparse Observations via Joint-Level Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.08855/) (2023)
- [DiffusionPoser: Real-time Human Motion Reconstruction From Arbitrary Sparse Sensors Using Autoregressive Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.16682/) (2023)
- [Dynamic Inertial Poser (DynaIP): Part-Based Motion Dynamics Learning for Enhanced Human Pose Estimation with Sparse Inertial Sensors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.02196/) (2023)
- [Physical Non-inertial Poser (PNP): Modeling Non-inertial Effects in Sparse-inertial Human Motion Capture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.19619/) (2024)
- [MobilePoser: Real-Time Full-Body Pose Estimation and 3D Human Translation from IMUs in Mobile Consumer Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.12492/) (2025)
- [Fusing Monocular Images and Sparse IMU Signals for Real-time Human Motion Capture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.00310/) (2023)
- [Ultra Inertial Poser: Scalable Motion Capture and Tracking from Sparse Inertial Sensors and Ultra-Wideband Ranging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.19541/) (2024)
- [Towards Self-Calibrating Inertial Body Motion Capture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.03754/) (2016)

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Seeing Without Eyes: 4D Human-Scene Understanding from Wearable IMUs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.21926/) (2026)
- [Towards Real-World Wearable Motion Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.09780/) (2026)
- [Garment Inertial Denoiser (GID): Endowing Accurate Motion Capture via Loose IMU Denoiser](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.01360/) (2026)
- [Ultra Diffusion Poser: Diffusion-Based Human Motion Tracking From Sparse Inertial Sensors and Ranging-Based Between-Sensor Distances](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.02153/) (2026)
- [MARIO: Motion-Augmented Real-Time Multi-Sensor Inertial Odometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.02996/) (2026)
- [ArmPoser: Real-Time, Calibration-Free Arm Pose Estimation from Smartwatch IMU](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.08806/) (2026)
- [Reliability-Gated Fusion of Consumer Head and Foot IMUs for Lower-Body 3D Pose](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.35764/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In this paper, we propose a novel dynamic calibration method for sparse inertial motion capture systems, which is the first to break the restrictive absolute static assumption in IMU calibration, i.e., the coordinate drift RG'G and measurement offset RBS remain constant during the entire motion, thereby significantly expanding their application scenarios. Specifically, we achieve real-time estimation of RG'G and RBS under two relaxed assumptions: i) the matrices change negligibly in a short time window; ii) the human movements/IMU readings are diverse in such a time window. Intuitively, the first assumption reduces the number of candidate matrices, and the second assumption provides diverse constraints, which greatly reduces the solution space and allows for accurate estimation of RG'G and RBS from a short history of IMU readings in real time. To achieve this, we created synthetic datasets of paired RG'G, RBS matrices and IMU readings, and learned their mappings using a Transformer-based model. We also designed a calibration trigger based on the diversity of IMU readings to ensure that assumption ii) is met before applying our method. To our knowledge, we are the first to achieve implicit IMU calibration (i.e., seamlessly putting IMUs into use without the need for an explicit calibration process), as well as the first to enable long-term and accurate motion capture using sparse IMUs. The code and dataset are available at https://github.com/ZuoCX1996/TIC.