Beatriz Mañas Ballester; Juan Carlos González García; Sandra Alemany Mut; Alfredo Ballester Fernández; Ana Piérola Orcero; Jordi Uriel Moltó; Eduardo Parrilla Bernabé; José Montero Vilela; Jesús Selles Vizcaya; Julio Vivas Vivas
Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV). Universitat Politècnica de València. Edificio 9C. Camino de Vera s/n. (E-46022) Valencia. Spain
Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV) has developed a cutting-edge app which allows to capture the 3D shape of the foot with only three pictures taken from any smartphone, making possible to obtain the dimensions of the foot at any place. This technology overcomes the barriers for the massive spreading of the digitisation of feet and its use in e-Commerce for size selection and virtual try-on of footwear as well as for new online business models as footwear mass customization.
INTRODUCTION
Online shoe retailing is one of the key developments in the footwear marketplace, increasing very fast in the last years. However, strong barriers are limiting its growth, being one of the most important the uncertainty in the size selection and the returns due to this fact. The challenge at this moment is how to best integrate the use of websites as well as other tools such as social media and smartphone apps to solve this problem, maximizing turnover and customer satisfaction.
The access to the 3D measurement of people’s feet is presented as a solution to solve this problem and even to foster new online business models as footwear customization.
However, the cost of foot 3D scanners to obtain the information of customers is high; the devices are too bulky for homes and retail stores; and its proper use requires expertise to get the relevant parameters from the 3D representation. These three barriers are currently hindering the massive spreading of 3D scanners as consumer good or as typical in-store appliance.
Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV) has developed a cutting-edge app which allows to capture the 3D shape of the foot with only three pictures taken from any smartphone, making possible to obtain the dimensions of the foot from any place.
While the usual return rate for e-Commerce is between 17 and 25 %, one in every three pairs of shoes bought online is being returned, one of the highest return rates in e-Commerce. A whopping of 52 - 65% of all footwear returns are related to improper fit, meaning for the e-Retailers lots of unhappy customers, low conversion rates due to missed sales opportunities, and having to process all of those returns on the backend which costs time and money.Approximately 262 Million pairs of shoes are being returned annually, entailing the management and process of the returns a soaring dedication in time and cost, reducing considerably the benefits to e-Retailers (losses can raise up to 20-25% of the gross companies’ profit).
TECHNOLOGY
The proposed 3D scanning technology is based on data-driven algorithms using a mathematical model created from large 3D feet databases. The reconstruction algorithm finds the combination of shape parameters that best matches the silhouettes extracted from three pictures (lateral, front and medial) taken by the user. The pictures are sent to a server that performs the 3D reconstruction of the foot. In a few seconds the foot in 3D and more than 20 measurements are obtained.
Figure 1. Iterative process for the 3D foot reconstruction
We have developed two different user data input systems for the feet reconstruction: a mobile app (3D Avatar. Feet/IBV) and a scanner for brik and mortar stores (DomeScan/IBV), specifically designed for this purpose.
3D Avatar. Feet/IBV: 3D foot scanning App
The mobile app has been designed to be used from any place in an easy way. The input data consists of three images of the foot on top of a standard sheet (DINA4 or letter). Each photograph should be taken from a different point of view; zenithal, medial and lateral views. The app sends the images to a remote server where all the processing takes place.
Figure 2. Process of taking photographs with the app 3D Avatar. Feet/IBV
Figure 3. A 3D foot displayed on the app 3D Avatar. Feet/IBV
DOMEScan/IBV: Low cost in-shop 3D foot scanner
The DOME is a foot scanner specially designed for retail, being easy to use, quick and versatile. It is equipped with one camera on top and two mirrors placed in such angle that can obtain three views of the feet with a single photograph, giving an excellent user experience. It is lightweight, wireless and robust as there are not moving parts, being easily portable.
Figure 4. A person standing, using Domescan/IBV
Figure 5. Domescan/IBV software used from a tablet
CONCLUSIONS
Can an online footwear retailer imagine customers having a foot scanner in their pocket? The key advantage of the new image-based solution compared to the traditional body scanners is the possibility to be used easily by everybody on any smartphone, from any place, without additional expensive hardware. Overcoming, in this way, the barriers for the massive spreading of the digitisation of feet and its use in e-Commerce: price, availability and usability. On the other hand, it provides good accuracy for most applications such as virtual try-on, made-to-measure or size allocation of footwear.
Figure 6. The different foot measurements obtained with IBV technology
Dodge Ski Boots, https://dodgeskiboots.com, a US company that manufactures and sells the world's high-performance custom-fit carbon fiber ski boots, uses IBV technology in its industry-exclusive Remote Fitting SystemTM
Thus, Dodge has access to any customer anywhere in the world, assuring the perfect match between the foot and the boot.
IBV is proud to help clients to have their customers fully satisfied.
