The invention concerns a device for capturing the motion of a structure consisting of N articulated segments, characterized in that it comprises: first means (ML) that deliver at least one item of information able to restore an absolute acceleration vector {right arrow over (a)}1 of a point on the segment of rank 1 in a reference frame forming a reference, at successive times tk, k being an integer number greater than or equal to 1, and second measuring means (MD1, MDn) distributed over the various segments and which deliver, for each segment of rank 1 to N, at each time tk, a measurement (M1, Mn) representing an orientation vector ({right arrow over (Θ)}1, {right arrow over (Θ)}n) of the segment in the reference frame. Application to biomechanical analysis, telemanipulation, animation of characters, etc.