Reverse Engineering: A Link Between Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering

Reverse engineering may comprise several different data acquisition techniques as well as reconstruction methods. The present work intends to demonstrate the process and the potential of reverse engineering using 3D laser scanning to reproduce anatomic parts used for teaching purposes, doing so from a perspective of the link between mechanical and biomedical engineering. To do so, two case studies are presented. One, is a physical phantom of a half-brain, while the other is the liver of the anthropomorphic phantom of nuclear medicine [1], used for ionizing radiation assessments. In this last case, there is another very important objective related to its replication via 3D printing, aiming to replace the original one that was irreparable. The achievement of the computational 3D models is in both cases a major goal, as there was no original documentation that would allow their manufacture.