Precise tracking of the jaw kinematics is crucial for diagnosing various musculoskeletal and neuromuscular diseases affecting the masticatory system and for advancing rehabilitative devices such as jaw exoskeletons, a hardly explored research field, to treat these disorders. We introduce an open-source, low-cost, precise, non-invasive, and biocompatible jaw tracking system based on optical motion capture technology to address the need for accessible and adaptable research tools. The system encompasses a complete pipeline from data acquisition, processing, and kinematic analysis to filtering, visualization, and data storage. We evaluated its performance and feasibility in experiments with four participants executing various jaw movements. The system demonstrated reliable kinematic tracking with an estimated precision of $(182 \pm 47) μm$ and $(0.126 \pm 0.034) °$. Therefore, the open-source nature of the system and its utility comparable to commercial systems make it suitable for many research and development contexts, especially for applications such as the integration and design of jaw exoskeletons and customized diagnostic protocols. The complete system is available at GitHub with the aim of promoting innovation in temporomandibular disorders research and jaw assistive technology.

翻译：精确追踪下颌运动学对于诊断影响咀嚼系统的各种肌肉骨骼与神经肌肉疾病，以及推进治疗此类疾病的下颌外骨骼等康复设备（一个极少被探索的研究领域）至关重要。为满足对可获取且适应性强的研究工具的需求，我们介绍了一种基于光学动作捕捉技术的开源、低成本、精确、非侵入且生物相容的下颌运动追踪系统。该系统涵盖了从数据采集、处理、运动学分析到滤波、可视化和数据存储的完整流程。我们在四位参与者执行多种下颌运动的实验中评估了其性能和可行性。该系统表现出可靠的运动学追踪能力，估计精度为$(182 \pm 47) μm$和$(0.126 \pm 0.034) °$。因此，该系统的开源特性及其与商业系统相媲美的实用性，使其适用于许多研究和开发场景，特别是下颌外骨骼的集成与设计以及定制化诊断方案等应用。完整系统已在GitHub上发布，旨在促进颞下颌关节紊乱病研究和下颌辅助技术领域的创新。