During my tenure at Ceromaze, I had to develop a wearable system that could be adjusted to accommodate the 5th to 95th percentiles of the population (men, women, and children). This device was seated around the back of the neck and would extend around the neck just beyond the shaft of the clavicle.
As it turns out, the human body varies widely in its neck-shoulder geometry depending on sex, mass, and height. Consequently, a two-sided approach was necessary; 1. accurately map the upper torso and 2. develop a modular device that could be modified to fit each measured body. In my work, I was responsible for both these ambitions.
Mapping the upper body proved non-trivial. To make the product as accessible as possible, the mapping was to be conducted using one’s cellphone. We would then export a three-dimensional point map of their torso and use this to calculate which modular variation of the device would best fit. We then needed every possible configuration of the modular device to be known so that we could compare the resting geometry vs the measured body shape.
I then wrote a MATLAB script that would overlay every device geometry onto a selected body map. The RMS distance between each surface was calculated and an optimal device configuration was determined.
The secondary challenge was developing a system of configurable devices that would accommodate a majority of the public. Dozens of human models were uploaded into Solidworks which I designed around. Eventually, I had developed a system comprised of 3 rigid bodies connected by a flexible elastomeric joint. The size of the rigid bodies and joints could be interchanged to create dozens of potential sizes while only needing a few unique parts. The functional systems were identical across all configurations, necessitating only hoses and wires to be connected during assembly.
A series of configurations were generated, their surfaces exported, and tested against a library of various body shapes. Each result was exported to an Excel file for easy visualization. This could then be used to evaluate the fit of the device compared to different populations.
Note: This image has been intentionally blurred