MR4: 2025 Fall Release

The Fall 2025 Release brings major enhancements to calibration flexibility, force-plate analytics, and biofeedback options. This update continues our focus on delivering tools that work in real-world environments, support clinical and performance workflows, and expand the analytical depth of MR4.

Below is an overview of what’s new in this release.

Calibration is a critical step for IMU motion capture, but ideal neutral posture isn’t always achievable. Clinical populations may have postural constraints, and even healthy athletes often carry habitual offsets like anterior pelvic tilt or knee flexion. The Virtual Calibration Adjustment Tool (vCAT) introduces a flexible, visual way to quickly refine these inaccuracies through an intuitive software-driven workflow and toolset.

Noraxon is the only provider in the IMU motion capture market to offer a calibration adjustment workflow. vCAT introduces a capability that simply doesn’t exist in other inertial systems, giving researchers and practitioners a level of model correction traditionally reserved for high-end optical labs.

Why It Matters

vCAT brings a modern, intuitive approach to calibration correction that allows users to correct avatar alignment using a specific frame in the recording. This improves joint-angle accuracy and offers a practical solution for assessing patients or populations who cannot stand neutrally.

How It Works

• Use the integrated workflow to capture specific poses or select any frame from the calibration recording to perform corrections from
• Jump-start adjustments with markerless-assisted pose proposals
• Manually fine-tune corrections with landmark dragging and individual segment rotations
• Apply changes instantly on the avatar with no recalculation delays
• Store all corrections directly in the recording’s calibration metrics
• Access full undo/redo support during the correction session

The result is cleaner, more representative calibration — especially for clinical populations and subjects where posture challenges are common.

Who It’s For

• Clinicians assessing patients with limited mobility
• Researchers needing to correct habitual posture offsets
• Sports practitioners capturing athletes with non-neutral baselines

vCAT is released as a BETA feature to gather real user feedback as we continue refining this game-changing workflow.

Force plates offer far more than vertical jump data. The Fall 2025 Release adds comprehensive support for horizontal jump and cutting assessments, powered by anterior–posterior (AP) and medial–lateral (ML) shear-force metrics. This unlocks a deeper understanding of braking, propulsion, stability, and directional control during multidirectional movement.

MR4 is currently the only system in the biomechanics industry that supports automated horizontal jump and COD force-plate analysis with AP/ML shear-force metrics and subphase detection. No other commercial force-plate platform provides standardized horizontal movement evaluation at this level.

Why It Matters

Horizontal and cutting tasks—broad jumps, lateral jumps, 505 cuts, accelerations, decelerations — play a central role in sport performance and return-to-play decision-making. With this update, MR4 quantifies the forces and strategies behind these movements with the same clarity as vertical jumps.

Users can now:

• Track braking vs. propulsive tendencies
• Assess directional asymmetry during cutting
• Evaluate approach and exit mechanics when changing directions
• Measure stability through the complete loading sequence
• Visualize patterns with new AP/ML Jump Loop signal options

This provides a clearer picture of athletic readiness and movement quality across a wide variety of sport-relevant actions.

How It Works

The system automatically identifies jump types and applies universal subphase detection:

• Unweighting (when present)
• Braking
• Propulsive
• Flight (if applicable)
• Stabilization (if applicable)

New parameters include AP/ML forces, shear-specific RFD, and asymmetry metrics. The Jump Loop element now supports AP/ML force, acceleration, velocity, and COP signals for richer visual analysis.

Who It’s For

• Strength and conditioning coaches evaluating COD efficiency
• Sports scientists investigating asymmetry or load distribution
• Clinicians monitoring return-to-sport progress
• Universities, research labs, and sport academies
• Any practitioner using dual force plates for performance assessment

This update significantly expands the force-plate feature set and makes MR4 more applicable to real movement demands across diverse sport and clinical populations.

*Support for broad and lateral jumps coming soon.

A new Pre-Contact phase allows users to examine neuromuscular activity in the milliseconds leading up to ground contact. This period captures important preparatory behavior related to landing readiness, motor control, and injury-risk mechanics.

Users can specify the pre-contact duration in milliseconds, and the phase integrates fully into timelines, overlays, and phase-specific reporting. Existing workflows are unaffected when the feature is disabled.

Raw acceleration channels from Ultium Motion and Research Pro IMUs can now be selected directly in the MR4 biofeedback interface. This enables acceleration-based training and cueing for applications such as sprinting, skating, change-of-pace work, or other high-velocity movement tasks.

By removing the previous limitation tied to special raw-data modes, this update lets users combine the power of joint-angle analysis with high-resolution acceleration-based feedback in a single workflow.

The Fall 2025 Release continues our mission to make MR4 more flexible, more powerful, and more aligned with the real-world challenges of human movement assessment. We look forward to your feedback, especially on the vCAT BETA, as we continue shaping the future of motion capture and human performance analytics.

Click here to see if you’re eligible for the update.