The invention proposes a device and a method for characterizing movements performed by an object, notably a limb of a human being instrumented with at least one accelerometer. The invention is particularly useful for determining the direction, the line and the length of the steps of said human being. The invention uses algorithms for processing the signals from the sensor to make it possible to segment the steps by identifying the lifting and the landing of said limb by comparing the signals output from the sensor with thresholds, to determine the direction and the line of the step by comparing the maxima of the values of the signals along two axes substantially parallel to the walking plane and to calculate the length of the step by double integration of the signals according to the direction of the step. The invention is also applicable to hand movements that have trend characteristics similar to those of the steps.
