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Research at the UNCC visionlab has produced an inexpensive 3D scanner that is portable, accurate and is capable of "wrapping" photographs over the 3D meshes produced by the scanner. The system is powered by a SICK LMS 200 LIDAR sensor that captures 3D (x,y,z) coordinates at a rate of up to 27k 3D points per second. Each measurement records the (x,y,z) position of surfaces within the line- o f-sight of the scanner. The 3D surface samples are integrated with photographs from a webcamera in real-time to create a 3D mesh of the scene in the vicinity of the scanner. The system is high ly configurable and allows the users to specify the region of interest for data capture that can range from a small surface patch (~1 sq. m.) to a 360-degree view of  all surfaces within 60m. of the scanning sensor. A dense 360-degree scan can take up to 2-3 minutes to capture and less dense scans covering smaller areas may be captured much faster. The SICK sensor provides measurements that average 2 cm. of error. Surface (x,y,z) measurements are integrated in real-time with images produced by a web camera that is also controlled by the scanning software. The scanner output is a sequence of Alias-Wavefront (Maya-compatible) OBJ files. Each output OBJ file includes a portion of the 3D scan and a image from the web camera that is overlaid onto the mesh using texture-mapping. The system was successfully used to capture data from Mayan architecture in the Puuc region of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico in May 2010.
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Technical Specs
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DataRate: up to 27k 3D points/sec
Vertical Field of view: Configurable from straight up (0 degrees) to almost straight down (150 degrees) -- occlusion occurs due to tripod mount.
Horizontal Field of view: Configurable up to 360 degrees
Accuracy: ~2 cm.
Weight: ~22 kg.
Output: OBJ format 3D files and JPG images (for texture mapping)

Two views of a scan of  a Mayan facade from the Kiuic archaeological site are shown below.
mayascan_01
mayascan_02

UI Engineering alumnus Thaddeus Thomas (BS 2004, MS 2007 biomedical engineering) recently received the Clinical Biomechanics Award at the 34th annual meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics.  Thomas was recognized for outstanding new biomechanics research targeting a contemporary clinical problem. The award is sponsored by Elsevier Science, Ltd., publishers of Clinical Biomechanics, an international multidisciplinary journal of musculoskeletal biomechanics.

Two finalists were selected from the top 10th percentile of over 500 abstracts submitted to the annual meeting of the Society’s annual meeting, who then made competitive podium presentations judged by the ASB Awards Committee. The award consists of an engraved plaque and a check for $1,000.

The ASB was founded in October 1977 by a group of 53 scientists and clinicians, and its first annual meeting was held that year in Iowa City. The ASB mission is to encourage and foster the exchange of information and ideas among biomechanists working in different disciplines and fields of application and to facilitate the development of biomechanics as a basic and applied science.

Thomas is a graduate research assistant in the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, as well as a PhD candidate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Iowa. His presentation was entitled “Virtual pre-operative reconstruction planning for comminuted articular fractures,” co-authored by Donald D. Anderson, J. Lawrence Marsh, and Thomas D. Brown (University of Iowa), and by Andrew R. Willis (University of North Carolina at Charlotte).

Also at the annual meeting, Donald Anderson, research associate professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation, and biomedical engineering, was elected president of the ASB.