Virtual try-on of Additively Manufactured Orthosis via Augmented Reality

Abstract

Virtual try-on applications came to market not too long ago to be a supportive part of online shopping, allowing consumers to try clothes or accessories on before making the purchase. This kind of applications proved to be highly useful in decreasing return rates of the products. More and more online markets are using AR technology to improve the shopping experience of consumers in fashion field. However, AR technology should be able to do more than making products more attractive, especially in the medical field. Finding an orthosis product that both satisfies the medical requirement and has an appealing design has always been hard for patients with physical inconvenience, especially during corona time. Traditionally, consumers first need to make a mould in a physical orthosis store, then they have to make multiple trips to the store to keep giving suggestions to the staff of how the orthosis needs to be adjusted, until they are satisfied with the final product. This process takes a long time, since orthosis are usually hand-made, and the adjustment process could be frustrating for the orthosis consumers. To go to the physical store, orthosis consumers have to tolerate the time spent on the way, limited choices of design to try on in each store, and the risk of corona infection due to close contact with people over there. The producers also have to cover for the wear-out samples, the time it takes for multiple discussion on improvements, as well as taking the risk of the patients not liking the design after production. A virtual orthosis try-on application is the best solution to satisfy both sides, it bridges the gap between orthosis consumers and the producers. This application would make individualization of orthosis products easier, saving the time of communications and possible miscommunications. Moreover, this app make the digitalized production line to be more appealing and trustworthy to orthosis consumers. The orthosis model is automatically generated with the 3D scan of the consumers' leg, then the consumers use this application to try on different designs and colours, and the final product can be additive manufactured after they made their choice. In this way, consumers do not need to go to the physical store anymore, saving much time and effort. The try-on application was first designed and assigned functions that it is supposed to achieve using design thinking methods, then designed and build with game engine Unity, which has many ready-to-use packages, together with the tracking technology from the Vuforia engine. Both Marker-less and Marker-based tracking were tried out during the development. Marker-based tracking were chosen in the end for a more satisfying end-product. Finally, a preference test was made for a better version of this application with a controlled group.A marker-based Android application was successfully made after many trails. Consumers only need to place two QR codes on both sides of their thighs, then they can view the augmented orthosis from different angles on the camera of a personal Android device, choose the design patterns and colours of the orthosis model by simple clicks on the user interface, and select the model that attracts them the most.

Keywords: Augmented Reality, Additive Manufacturing, Orthosis, Virtual try-on

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1004037