ShapeSense3D - textile-sensing and reconstruction of body geometries

We present an implementation of a textile sensing sleeve with attached strain sensors to capture the shape of body parts. A shape reconstruction algorithm was developed to reconstruct a geometrical model of the deformed sleeve using the elongation measurements obtained from the sensors and an optimisation process. The current system achieves a 0.44 mm error when reconstructing the radius of a conical shape. We discuss future improvements required to form a more reliable 3D shape sensing device. After further development, this sleeve could be utilised for health care application such as muscle density measurements, movement tracking or to replace plaster or thermoplastic casting in the fabrication of orthoses and prostheses.