Inexpensive Foot Digitizing Device for Diabetic Footware

描述（由申请人提供）：使用CAD/CAM设计和制造定制鞋垫有可能彻底改变对有足部溃疡风险的糖尿病患者的护理，从而防止截肢。使用这种方法，个性化的矫形器可以变得更加精确，一致和更便宜，而不是利用仍然常见的手工制作。有几家公司已经开发了这样的系统&对于每一个系统来说，脚形的精确测量都是至关重要的。现有的方法使用复杂的数字化机器来捕获脚的几何形状和CAD/CAM来创建鞋垫。这些系统非常昂贵，并且该成本的很大一部分是由于脚数字化设备。该修订提案的目的是开发并将廉价的装置（触觉透镜）推向市场，以捕获足部足底表面的三维形状。拟议设计的主要优势是高分辨率，低成本和简单性，这将使其可用于小型诊所和办公室。在本研究的第一阶段，我们开发了第二代支撑襻透镜原型，编写了软件来采集和处理数据，并使用优化方法来显示准确性和可重复性的良好结果。在这个拟议的第二阶段，我们将完善这个原型和附带的软件，降低其成本，并准备推向市场。具体而言，我们将优化膜的安全性和刚度，增加内部校准，坚固的包装，受试者稳定装置和应用负载测量。该软件将进行改进，以增加自动校准，操作员预览，更快的执行，自动图像处理和输出，可以很容易地集成到CAD-CAM鞋类算法。性能将通过对已知几何形状的物体和人脚的准确性测试来定义。我们还将制定操作员培训协议和基于网络的说明。该项目是DIApedia为高危糖尿病患者设计矫正系统的整体努力的关键部分，该系统基于明确的科学支持的设计算法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The design and manufacture of custom insoles using CAD/CAM has the potential to revolutionize the care of diabetic patients at risk for foot ulceration, thereby preventing amputations. Using this approach, individualization of orthotics could become much more precise, consistent & less expensive than utilizing the still usual handcrafting. Several companies have developed such systems & for each the accurate measurement of foot shape is critical. Existing approaches use sophisticated digitizing machines to capture foot geometry and CAD/CAM to create insoles. These systems are very costly, & a significant portion of this cost is due to the foot digitizing devices. The objective of this revised proposal is to develop and bring to market an inexpensive device, the Haptic Lens, to capture the three-dimensional shape of the plantar surface of the foot. The major strengths of the proposed design are high resolution, low cost, & simplicity, which will make it accessible for use in small clinics & offices. In phase I of this study we have developed a second generation prototype of the Haptic Lens, written software to acquire and process the data, and used optimization methods to show promising results for the accuracy and repeatability. In this proposed phase II we will refine this prototype and accompanying software, reduce its cost, and prepare it for market. Specifically, we will optimize membrane safety and stiffness, add internal calibration, robust packaging, subject stabilization devices, and applied load measurement. The software will be refined to add automatic calibration, operator preview, faster execution, automatic image processing, and output that can easily be integrated into the CAD-CAM footwear algorithms. Performance will be defined through accuracy tests on objects of known geometry & on human feet. We will also develop operator training protocols and web-based instructions. This project is a critical part of an overall effort at DIApedia to design an orthotic system for at-risk diabetic patients that is based on clear scientifically supported design algorithms.