Validation of a 3D body scanner system with automated circumference measurement calculation while considering the influence of different 3D data types

Abstract

Anthropometry is crucial in ergonomic designing to ensure accommodation of diverse body sizes and shapes. 3D body scanning systems are now widely employed in anthropometric surveys for collecting data, requiring validation according to ISO 20685-1 for ISO 7250-1 measurements. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of the 3D body scanning system, Vitus Bodyscan, in combination with Anthroscan, for automatically calculated circumference measurements specified in ISO 7250-1, while considering the influence of different 3D data types. Overall, 9 circumference measurements were collected from 44 adult subjects. For the manual measurement, ISO 7250-1 guidelines were considered. For the 3D scanning, each participant was scanned once in a standing posture. Thereafter, proprietary Anthroscan algorithms were used to generate a watertight mesh from the initial 3D point cloud and computed the circumference measurements automatically. With the exception of calf circumference, scan-derived measurements exceeded the acceptable error margins specified in ISO 20685-1 and were therefore not comparable to manual measurements due to several possible factors. Practitioners need to consider these variations when using the scan-derived values. Looking at the differences between scan-derived measurements based on point clouds or watertight meshes, the deviations were negligible for most circumference measurements, except for arm circumference with better results based on point clouds. For simplicity, the authors recommend the use of point clouds for all circumference measurements studied. However, the recommendations are based on the anthropometric measurements and the 3D body scanning system used in this study and cannot be generalized.

Keywords: Anthropometry, 3D body scan, validation, point cloud, watertight mesh

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1004633