Evaluation of biometrics derived using Microsoft Kinect surface maps
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of height, weight and surface area derived using Microsoft Kinect surface maps
IRAS ID
203610
Contact name
Jordi Morell
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 2 days
Research summary
Although measuring the height and weight of healthy and compliant persons is a simple task using standard scales, the problem of accurately determining these biometrics is confounded when the patient is unable or unwilling to cooperate. Reliable measurements of height and weight are of great importance to the attending clinician, and a method that is fast, reliable and requires no patient contact would be beneficial to all patients and staff in terms of streamlining workflow and improving infection control.
The Microsoft Kinect is a consumer grade, low cost depth sensor capable of detecting the position of 3D surfaces, 30 times a second. The Kinect uses eye-safe infra-red laser light to continually calculate distances to surfaces, so monitoring can operate in the presence of staff, patients and relatives and is effective even in darkness. This project repurposes Kinect depth sensing technology and couples this with the latest machine vision techniques, to develop a reliable, low cost, easy to use device for capturing patient shape and deriving height, shape, weight and body surface area from this. Our starting point is a published method which enables weight to be measured to an accuracy of 2kg for standing patients by comparing the user’s skeletal lengths to a library of patient’s metrics.
To refine the code used for height, weight and surface area measurement prior to use in patients, we intend to begin by acquiring Kinect data for 50 healthy adult volunteers representing a range of body shapes and sizes. Body surface scans will be obtained for these volunteers whilst standing, seated, and lying on a hospital bed.
The study will continue on 20 patients – 10 in a hospital inpatient setting, and 10 in a hospital outpatient setting. The data will be used to develop and refine measures of height and weight, by comparison with calibrated clinical scales.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/YH/0208
Date of REC Opinion
18 May 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion