R_Bibb_Medical_Modelling_The_Application_of_Adv.pdf

REHABILITATION APPLICATIONS
6.8 Rehabilitation applications case study 1: An
investigation of three-dimensional scanning of
human body surfaces and its use in the design
and manufacture of prostheses
6.8.1 Acknowledgements
The work described in this case study was fi rst reported in the reference
below and is reproduced here in part or in full with the permission of the
Council of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.
• Bibb R, Freeman P, Brown R, Sugar A, Evans P, Bocca A, 2000, ‘An
investigation of three-dimensional scanning of human body parts and
its use in the design and manufacture of prostheses’ Proceeding of the
Institute of Mechanical Engineers Part H: Journal of Engineering in
Medicine, 214 (H6), 589–594.
6.8.2 Introduction
Three-dimensional surface scanning, or reverse engineering, has been used
in industry for many years as a method of integrating the surfaces of
complex forms with computer-generated design data (1). Non-contact scanners
operate by using light and camera technology to capture the exact
position in space of points on the surface of objects. Computer software is
then used to create surfaces from these points. These surfaces can then be
analysed in their own right or integrated with computer-aided design
(CAD) models. The general principles of non-contact surface scanning are
described more fully in Section 2.3. This section includes a description of
the potential diffi culties that may be encountered when employing the
technique and includes suggested methods to overcome them.
The scanner used in the work described in this section was a structured
white light system that uses a projected fringe pattern of white light and
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