Recent years saw the vibrant global footwear market and up-and-coming e-commerce. However, online footwear business has hardly benefited as it encountered high return rates due to poor fit. In view of this, Dr Ameersing Luximon at PolyU’s Institute of Textiles and Clothing developed a 3D foot scanner, changing the footwear ecology and bringing new experience of footwear production and shopping.
Built with knowledge-based software and geometric modelling techniques, this 3D foot scanner uses “similarities and differences” approach to register discrepancies of foot measurements against average 3D foot shapes to predict digitalized 3D foot models of users. This technology leads to a new model of shopping: consumers can order the best fit footwear anywhere in the world without being there; online shop sellers can offer the best shoes in styles and sizes fitting for the customers’ feet; and shoemakers offering mass customization options can use the model to fine-tune designs and sizes of certain parts of the shoes. With the installation of inexpensive webcams, the cost of this 3D foot scanner can reduce substantially. With a mean error of about 1.7mm, it has less variation than that of the foot measurement at different periods and states in a day.
The scanner enjoys huge market potential with its low cost, high accuracy and compact features. This technology has now been exclusively licensed to a digital solution company for mass production and product diversification.