Depth Sensors along the Design and Validation of Lower Limb Prosthesis

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Regazzoni, D.^{a; *} | Rizzi, C.^a

Affiliations: [a] Department of Management, Information and Production Engineering, University of Bergamo, Dalmine (BG), Italy

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. [email protected] Tel: (+39) 035-2052353

Abstract: The diffusion of depth sensors to sense people and objects constitutes an outstanding opportunity in those fields in which the benefits of optical marker-less solutions for scanning or tracking are requested. This paper shows how two different applications based on MS Kinect device can be accomplished in the domain of lower limb prosthesis design and test. The first one refers to the use of a depth camera as a three-dimensional scanner to acquire the geometry of residual limbs or of custom-fit components. The second application is related to the motion capture of patients’ gait with the prosthesis. In both cases, the technology resulted to be better than many traditional ones mainly for its limited invasivity, interesting performance, portability and low cost.

Keywords: RGB-D cameras, lower limb prosthesis, 3D scanner, motion capture, digital human modelling

DOI: 10.3233/jid-2015-0002

Journal: Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 71-80, 2015