Basic theory, design, and preliminary evaluation of a laser scanner for shape sensing below-the-knee amputees.

A scanner which produces surface profiles of residual limbs from below-the-knee amputees was constructed and evaluated. The scanner uses a turntable mounted laser to define a surface profile line, a charge-coupled-device video camera to view the profile, and a custom designed video processing board to extract profile data. A microcomputer is used to control data acquisition and provides the rapid processing capability necessary to resolve scan profile data into a three-dimensional numerical description of the surface in a timely and cost effective manner. Flexibility of use as well as positional accuracy and reproducibility indicate that the laser scanner is well suited to the task of surface scanning of residual limbs for below-the-knee amputees. Additionally, the laser profile scanning technique can be applied to other regions of the body where a mathematical description of the surface is useful, such as in radiotherapy treatment planning.