An object of the present invention is to provide a method, an apparatus and a system for automatically recognizing motions and actions of moving objects such as humans, animals and machines. Measuring instruments are attached to an object under observation. The instruments measure a status change entailing the object's motion or action and to issue a signal denoting the measurements. A characteristic quantity extraction unit extracts a characteristic quantity from the measurement signal received which represents the motion or action currently performed by the object under observation. A signal processing unit for motion/action recognition correlates the extracted characteristic quantity with reference data in a database containing previously acquired characteristic quantities of motions and actions. The motion or action represented by the characteristic quantity with the highest degree of correlation is recognized and output.