From game consoles to medical technology : Date:
In a BMBF-funded project, a team of researchers at FH Aachen has developed a body scanner based on a 3D camera that was originally designed for a game console. The body scanner is to be used for medical purposes.
Console fans know the 3D Kinect camera as an addition to the X-Box: The system, which was in the market from 2010 to 2017, enabled gamers for the first time to control console games by their movements alone. A team from FH Aachen has now utilized the sensor technology in a completely different context: In a BMBF-funded project from the FHprofUnt funding line, the scientists have developed a body scanner based on the Kinect camera. The 3D scanner can exactly reconstruct the surface of a person's body and is therefore suitable for numerous medical applications: for example, at the doctor's office for measuring joint angles or the spine, but also in medical supply stores for fitting orthopaedic aids.
The body scanner consists of four 3D cameras mounted on a frame and rotating around the patient to create a three-dimensional image of the entire body. Kinect was used primarily because these commercially available systems are much less expensive than comparable “high-end” systems. The project team counterbalanced the difference in quality by using several cameras, and also programmed their own evaluation algorithm. The body scanner is to be marketed from 2021 onwards by the partner companies involved in the project.
The project entitled “Development of a three-dimensional body scanner based on a high-resolution optical time-of-flight camera” was funded from 2016 to 2019 with around 540,000 euros from the FHprofUnt funding line.