The aim of the project is to produce an affordable and accessible 3D body scanning tool with primary applications in apparel and medicine. Experience shows that self-measuring can prove difficult and often yield inaccurate results. Using the Microsoft Kinect 2, we hope to remove this burden from the user and deliver detailed and accurate data about their body size and shape. This could facilitate clothing providers in offering fitted clothes for costs much lower than existing scanning methods in the field. The body information could be additionally used to monitor health and body development, with liaison between doctors and patients being assisted by quick and easy scans that take place in a local practice or even in the patient's home.
UCL has pioneered the use of 3D whole body scanners for the clothing industry and healthcare, but these scanners cost between $15,000 and $150,000. If we can build 3D scanners for $100 from the Kinect 2.0 then this will be an industry ‘game changer’ as we already have the necessary software. In 2000 UCL ran the UK National Sizing Survey (SizeUK) working with the 14 largest clothing retailers to measure 11,000 adults using 3D Scanners. (All UK clothes sizes are based on these measurements.) These scanners capture a 3D body map of the subject and we can then extract 200 measurements in 2 seconds. Clothing retailers would like to use 3D scanners for size recommendation and made-to measure clothing, and doctors would like to use 3d scanners for healthcare anthropometrics and patient advice on obesity etc. However, existing scanners are both expensive and difficult to use in a consumer environment. This project will attempt to develop a low cost 3D body scanner using Kinect 2.0 with the aim of unlocking these mass-market consumer applications.