Automatic Measurement of The Human Upper Limb Dimensions for Prosthetic Socket

Abstract

An upper limb prosthesis, i.e. a hand prosthesis, is a device to replace the function of an upper limb on upper limb amputees. In developing countries, amputees’ access to the device is scarce to unavailable. In addition to the absence of experts in those areas, currently there are no automatic measurement methods for upper limb amputees available. BME TU Delft Research Group is developing a solution for the issue by using a smartphone and 3D printing technology to provide access for the people in need.
The objective of this thesis is to automatically measure the dimensions from a digital 3D model of an upper limb stump which are required to create an upper limb prosthetic socket. The main method used in this thesis is Statistical Shape Modelling (SSM). We used Singular SSM and Multiple SSM as the approaches in this project. Geodesic distance and Intersection Line are used as measurement methods.
In order to validate the capability of the measurement algorithm to work with real human models, an experiment was conducted to test the precision of the algorithm. Nineteen participants with normal hands were 3D scanned. The manual measurement values were then compared with the values from the 3D scans by using both SSM approaches.
We propose an algorithm for automatic measurements of the human upper limb digital model for prosthetic application. The automatic measurement algorithm proved that we can measure real human upper limb for prosthetic application without human intervention. The Multiple SSM approach showed a sufficient result to be used in prosthetic application for upper limb socket. In the future, the resulting 3D-printed socket can be tested on upper limb amputees.