3D body visualization tool motivates users to live a healthy life

Forget BMI! Shapewatch is an innovative 3D body visualization tool developed by the University College Ghent, Global Scanning and QuantaCorp. It enables users to scan their body, monitor key biometrics and see their body shape in 3D, thus motivating them to go for their fitness goals and improve their healthy lifestyle habits.

Algorithm instead of BMI to measure body fat

Body Mass Index (BMI) is commonly used to determine if a person has a healthy weight. “But a healthy weight depends on more than weight and length. Moreover, it’s not 100% reliable for children, older people, pregnant women and muscular people. So we started looking for valuable alternatives to measure body fat,” says University College Ghent researcher Willem De Keyzer.

Based on manually measured data and 3D body scans of 250 test persons, Willem De Keyzer and his team discovered the key biometrics that determine body fat percentage. With this information, they developed an algorithm to measure body fat more accurately than BMI.

Shapewatch 3D body scan

Victoris business developer Kristof De Mey was asked to help in the rollout of the algorithm into a tool that can be used for a broad audience. During the course of the valorization activities, it was decided to rely on the experience of the Danish company Global Scanning. The international market leader in scanning technology closely cooperated with the Ghent-based QuantaCorp to develop Shapewatch.

The cloud-based body measurement platform, which consists of a kiosk and an app, can be used in fitness clubs and wellness centers. It scans a person’s body to measure key biometrics in a matter of seconds, followed by a visualization of the body in 3D augmented reality.

Advantages include:

  • Scanning results in 60 seconds
  • Track reductions or gains in body measurements
  • Easy-to-interpret biometric feedback and benchmark against health data
  • Visualization increases user motivation

International acclaim

In this project, researchers from various disciplines worked together to develop a valuable tool that helps people live a healthy life. This proves how the combination of in-depth research and entrepreneurship can lead to great, concrete results. If you have similar sports & tech related questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

business, entrepreneurship, innovation, Victoris

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