BoSS-21: Body Measurement and Garment Sizing
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The Principle
BoSS-21: Body Sizing System for the 21st Century, is an image-based body measurement system. The system captures three high-resolution images of a person, simultaneously from the front, side, and the top. The proprietary image processing software analyzes the image and automatically detects a number of landmarks. The 3-D location of each landmark is determined, and using this data, a sophisticated neural network determines the various body dimensions.
What makes BoSS-21 so powerful is that in addition to measuring your body, it also recommends the correct size of garments and personal equipment. |
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Determining the Correct Garment Size
Most garment sizing is still done using a trial and error approach. While an expert tailor may be able to recommend the correct size of an item of clothing just by looking at you, few people have this kind of experience or expertise.
BoSS-21 takes both overall body shape and specific details on each item into account. Using sizing rules customized by the garment and equipment designers, the system can determine the best available match for that individual. The sizing rules, in effect, embody the expertise of the designers, making it available to everyone, regardless of their training or experience.
BoSS-21 takes the guesswork out of sizing. It is accurate, reliable, and available around the clock.
Furthermore, the sizing rules can easily be updated. This means that manufacturing errors, fabric substitutions and other variances can be taken into account before the items are delivered to the end user. This can lead to substantial savings.
Body Dimensions
Currently, BoSS-21 measures 77 different body dimensions. The standard printed report can include any combination of these measurements including but not limited to the following six most commonly used dimensions, in addition to the sizes of the specified garments:
1. Stature
2. Neck circumference
3. Chest circumference
4. Waist Circumference
5. Hip circumference
6. Sleeve length
The measurement and sizing results are stored in a Microsoft Access database. They are easy to retrieve so that the data can be easily used for other purposes.
BoSS-21 can be customized to work in any language, and to interface with an existing IT infrastructure.
The Accuracy
BoSS-21 has been systematically evaluated using over a thousand people in the last five yeas. Click here to see the comparison. A detailed accuracy analysis is available in the paper Measurement Accuracy of BoSS-21. The results of these evaluations indicate that average difference between a measurement made by BoSS-21 and a measurement made by an expert anthropometrist is less than 1mm. Statistically speaking, there is no significant difference between the two measures.
These analyses also show that:
measures made by BoSS-21 are more consistant than measures made by different expert anthropometrists .
BoSS-21 is more consistant than the person body is over the period of a week .
the variability of measures made by BoSS-21 are less than half the size of the acceptable manufacturing tolerances of most garments .
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The System Specifications
Computer: Wndows XP or later
MS Access database
Cameras: high resolution commercial digital cameras
Booth dimensions: 210 cm high, 245 cm wide, and 245 cm deep
Lighting: normal indoor office or industrial lighting . |
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BoSS-21 Applications
Garment Size Selection
BoSS-21 was developed to help in designing for and outfitting the Canadian Forces. It has been in use by the garment design team for several years, and is currently being installed at selected Canadian Forces Bases.
BoSS-21 makes garment sizing quick and easy. Clothing stores personnel have responded very enthusiastically. Being able to accurately measure people in such as quick, non-invasive manner helps make their job much easier. The printed report can be customized to recommend only the garments that the individual needs.
The database on garment sizes helps in managing inventory, and when enough individuals are measured, it will help minimize inventory levels, reducing costs and waste.
Custom-made Clothing
BoSS-21 makes it easy to measure a customer quickly, and non-invasively. The data gathered is usually all that is needed for creating custom-made garments, or modifying existing garments.
Anthropometric Survey
BoSS-21 makes it easy to measure the bodies a large group of people quickly, accurately, and non-invasively. Large-scale anthropometric surveys done in the traditional "hands-on" manner are slow, require well-trained anthropometrists, and can be very expensive.
Additionally, the traditional measurement approach is very invasive, since it requires intimate physical contact. This can make it difficult to secure permission from the people you wish to measure.
BoSS-21 requires no physical contact, and it is designed to protect the privacy of the individual being measured. This can make it easier for people to agree to be measured.
Garment, Equipment and Workspace Design
Using BoSS-21 to measure the group you are designing for is quick and easy. Keeping that data current is also easy. Having the actual data describing your population removes much of the guesswork when designing for them.
Whatever your design needs, having the detailed information you need can go a lot way to making the job easier, and more satisfying for the customer.
Body Measurement for Health and Fitness
Being able to measure the body shape of individuals quickly, accurate, and non-invasively makes tracking progress during fitness training easy. Measuring groups of people can help in assessing obesity. Tracking children over time can help to assess growth and health.
