Optimal postures and positioning for human body scanning

Advancements in technology for digitizing the surface of the human body are providing new opportunities for research in engineering anthropometry, the study of human body measurement for design and evaluation purposes. The availability of the technology is just the first step in applying surface scanning to engineering anthropometry; several issues remain to be resolved to make these tools useful for engineering applications. One important issue is the standardization of positioning and the posture of the subject for scanning. In engineering it is not enough to be able to measure one individual one time in one posture, but it is also necessary to measure the individual in different postures and compare the individual with many other people who have been comparably measured. Not surprisingly, people can be more difficult to measure precisely than fixed stationary objects. In the process of developing standardized procedures for surveying the civilian populations of North America and Europe, an experiment was conducted to determine optimal scanning positions. While this experiment used just one type of scanning technology, many of the methods are transferable to other methods as well. This paper discusses the results from that investigation.