A fast and precise system for taking high-density human head measurements with surrounding range finders

Presents a head measurement system with surrounding range finders, which enables highly dense 3-D human head shape measurements to be taken quickly and precisely. Since short measurement time is as important as the inherent accuracy of instruments for measuring the human body, the system concurrently controls multiple rangefinders at video rate. It can capture all images of the human head, including the top and the chin, within a single second. Moreover, it enables measurements less than 1 mm/sup 2/ in density to be taken with average error as low as 0.4 mm. No conventional systems have both these advantages. The 3-D data acquired by the system will be utilized to design ergonomic products.