1 Validation study of a Kinect based body imaging system Sara Bragança 1 , Pedro Arezes 1 , Miguel Carvalho 2 , Susan P. Ashdown 3 , Bugao Xu 4 , Ignacio Castellucci 5 1 Department of Production and Systems, University of Minho, 4800-019, Guimarães, Portugal 2 Department of Textile Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-019, Guimarães, Portugal 3 Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA 4 School of Human Ecology, Univerisity of Texas, Austin, TX, USA 5 Escuela de Kinesiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile Abstract BACKGROUND Understanding the reliability and precision of the data obtained using three-dimensional body scanners is very important if it is intended to replace the traditional data collection methods. If the collection of anthropometric data with three-dimensional body scanners is a fast and reliable process that produces precise data at a low price, it could be used for numerous applications worldwide. Many studies have addressed data collected by white light and laser based scanners. OBJECTIVE This study provides a comparative analysis between the anthropometric data collected using a Kinect body imaging system with the data collected using traditional manual methods. Moreover, a comparison is also made between the results obtained in this study and the results of previous studies of different types of body scanners. METHODS The Mean Absolute Difference was calculated and all the values were compared to the maximum allowable error defined in ISO 20685. Additionally, an analysis of the significant differences between the two acquisition methods was also applied to a physical mannequin, to understand how the body movement and body stance variation in human participants impacts the results obtained. RESULTS There are few body measurements that are close to this restricted allowable error. The results were better when the mannequin was measured. Although they were still above the ISO 20685 limit, they were much closer than the results obtained for human participants. CONCLUSION The main cause of the differences between the two methods is the time required for the 3D system to acquire the data. The involuntary body sway of human participants is more difficult to control when the time span is too long. Keywords: traditional anthropometry; 3D body scanners; Kinect, reliability; precision 1. Introduction Throughout the years there have been many attempts to measure and categorize the range of human body variation. Although all human bodies share a common structure regardless of age, race, and gender, there are some critical differences. Ever since the time of the ancient Greeks that the human morphology has been studied to classify people predisposed to certain illnesses. Currently, datasets on the size and shape of human body are still limited. Most data used by safety and ergonomics researchers were drawn from anthropometric studies of military personnel, a subset of populations that is quite different from the general population. Nevertheless, nowadays, there are a growing number of anthropometric databases attempting to represent the characteristics of entire populations (1,2). Traditional manual methods of collecting anthropometric data are time-consuming, expensive and error prone. Moreover, traditional methods involve the use of standardized postures (3), with the distance between body