Extended Reality (XR) technologies, including Augmented Reality (AR), have attracted significant attention over the past few years and have been utilized in several fields, including education, healthcare, and manufacturing. In this paper, we aim to explore the use of AR in the field of biomechanics and human movement through the development of ARWalker, which is an AR application that features virtual walking companions (avatars). Research participants walk in close synchrony with the virtual companions, whose gait exhibits properties found in the gait of young and healthy adults. As a result, research participants can train their gait to the gait of the avatar, thus regaining the healthy properties of their gait and reducing the risk of falls. ARWalker can especially help older adults and individuals with diseases, who exhibit pathological gait thus being more prone to falls. We implement a prototype of ARWalker and evaluate its systems performance while running on a Microsoft Hololens 2 headset.

翻译：扩展现实（XR）技术，包括增强现实（AR）在内，近年来吸引了广泛关注，并已被应用于教育、医疗和制造等多个领域。本文旨在通过开发ARWalker（一款具备虚拟行走伴侣功能的AR应用），探索AR在生物力学及人体运动领域的应用。研究参与者与虚拟伴侣保持高度同步行走，后者的步态呈现年轻健康成年人的步态特征。由此，研究参与者可将其步态向虚拟形象步态进行训练，从而恢复健康步态特性并降低跌倒风险。ARWalker特别适用于步态异常（即病理性步态）导致跌倒风险较高的老年人和疾病患者。我们实现了ARWalker的原型系统，并在微软HoloLens 2头显上对其系统性能进行了评估。