My 25-week capstone project consisted of a collaboration with the Saucony Innovation Lab and four other team members to identify and test new technologies and methods for a system to map the internal geometry of athletic shoes for quality control and customer fit, focusing on 3-D imaging tech.
My responsibilities in the project include content writing and review, mechanical design using SOLIDWORKS and 3D Printing, statistical analysis (DOE, ANOVA), project management (motivating informed decision making, submitting quality deliverables on time, staying under budget), and sustainability considerations.
Project Abstract:
There currently exists no commonly used technology or system designed to measure the internal volume and geometry of an athletic shoe. Information regarding internal shoe geometry has potential applications in the fields of quality control, customer fit, and shoe design, among others. To develop a system capable of measuring internal areas of the shoe, we investigate several types of technologies and methodologies, determine the requirements of such a measurement system, and lay the foundation for downstream automation of the measurement process. We propose using CT Scanning to take 3D images of up to five shoes at a time and we develop a script that identifies individual shoes and isolates their internal volumes. The MATLAB script allows the user to analyze the internal volume of a shoe in three dimensions or study attributes of individual planes. The script builds a 3-D point cloud in MATLAB, extracting key measurements and volumes and exporting this information as a data matrix or 3D point cloud for further analysis. We also consider the standardization of the shape and stretch of an athletic shoe. We offer two viable methods, an HDPE toe insert and a latex inflatable, as potential standardization tools. While the HDPE toe insert displays the most predictable stretch pattern in relation to shoe sizes, we recommend the latex inflatable as it is easier to filter the material in the image analysis process in MATLAB. Our system offers both a solution and a methodology for the measurement of the internal geometry of athletic shoes.
