Design of a Low Cost 3D Scanner for Taking Anthropometric Measurements

Abstract

The designs of jobs, equipment, machinery, tools and spaces in general should be made considering the anthropometry of users, unfortunate in developing countries, such as Ecuador, do not have the anthropometry of its inhabitants, therefore, anthropometric tables are used that do not conform to their reality, which causes problems of productivity, waste of resources, and even effects on the safety and health of the population in general.

A group of researchers aware of the need to have the anthropometric model of the population, and the difficulties that arise when taking anthropometric measurements by taking direct measures in people, with the technological advance these problems are solved, but 3D scanners are expensive and even more so if they are of high precision. A scanner application was developed where hardware and software are combined. The hardware is used: a computer with medium conditions. The software uses SKANECT software and BLENDER free software.

With the structured scanner with these features the total cost is approximately 1800 USD, if we take into account that the computer tentatively companies or researchers already have, the cost of the scanner is approximately 600 or 800 USD. In the evaluation of the accuracy obtained in the scanner for the measurement of the human body, we can indicate when contrasting the values obtained by the traditional method and the measurements obtained with the digital process, the difference reaches a value lower than 2%, which allows the required standards to be met for the calculation of the anthropometric model of a population.